...... 


I 

i  THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

•***     THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


GOLDEN  ANNIVERSARY 
CELEBRATION 


GOLDEN  ANNIVERSARY 
CELEBRATION 

BY  THE  PLYMOUTH  CORDAGE   COMPANY  IN 

HONOR  OF   GIDEON  FRANCIS  HOLMES 

PLYMOUTH,    MASSACHUSETTS 

MARCH  TWENTY -SEVENTH 

NINETEEN    HUNDRED 

AND  NINE 


PRINTED  BY  THE   UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
CAMBRIDGE,  MASSACHUSETTS 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


FOREWORD 


FOREWORD 


A  I  ^HE  history  of  the  PLYMOUTH  CORDAGE 
COMPANY  is  a  continuous  story  of  great 
accomplishments     and     of    wonderful 
growth  from   small   beginnings.     Its  organiza- 
tion in  1824  was  a  small  affair,  or  at  least  would 
so  be  counted  to-day,  but  the  event  has  been 
made  notable  by  its  notable  results. 

Likewise,  incidents  have  occurred  in  its  career 
which  at  their  happening  seemed  hardly  of 
sufficient  importance  to  excite  even  passing 
remark,  but  which  have  been  made  remarkable 
by  their  consequences.  On  March  28,  1859, 
one  such  incident  occurred  —  the  Company 
engaged  a  new  office  boy  —  surely  nothing 
remarkable  in  the  regular  course  of  business. 
But  because  that  small  fifteen-year  old  chanced 
to  be  Gideon  F.  Holmes,  there  was  held  on 
March  28  of  the  present  year  a  unique  cele- 
bration to  mark  an  occasion  which  itself,  we 
believe,  is  unique  in  the  industrial  annals  of  our 
country.  The  office  boy,  who  fifty  years  ago 


[8] 

to-day  began  his  duties  under  the  eye  of  the 
Company's  founder,  Bourne  Spooner,  rose  to 
the  highest  executive  position  in  the  organiza- 
tion, and  for  twenty-seven  years  has  been  its 
guiding  power  and  moving  spirit. 

So  it  was  no  more  than  fitting  that  upon  this 
golden  anniversary  day  officers,  stockholders, 
and  employees,  with  other  business  and  per- 
sonal associates,  should  unite  in  offering  their 
congratulations  to  Mr.  Holmes  and  in  wishing 
him  many  more  long  and  successful  years. 

The  principal  feature  of  the  day's  celebra- 
tion took  the  form  of  a  banquet  held  in  the  Com- 
pany's newly  constructed  number  three  mill, 
the  entire  upper  floor  being  given  over  to  the 
purpose. 

Nearly  two  thousand  people  sat  down  at  the 
well-laden  tables,  and  after  the  repast  followed 
the  most  impressive  and  interesting  part  of  the 
day's  exercises.  Straight  from  the  hearts  of  the 
speakers  came  the  tributes  of  honor  and  affec- 
tion to  Mr.  Holmes,  and  they  were  echoed  from 
the  responsive  hearts  of  all  the  audience. 

The  peculiar  interest  which  the  occasion  held 
for  all  present  and  the  indications  that  it  was  of 
interest  to  many  friends,  business  and  personal, 


PRESIDENT  LORING         MR.  HOLMES   IN   HIS 

AUTOMOBILE 
MR.  HOLMES'  PRIVATE  OFFICE 


[9] 

who  could  not  attend  have  led  to  the  preserva- 
tion in  the  following  pages  of  the  messages  there 
delivered. 

That  our  celebration  and  what  it  stood  for 
were  matters  of  more  than  private  or  local  in- 
terest is  indicated  by  the  attention  received  from 
the  press.  An  editorial  in  the  Outlook  of  April 
17,  1909,  presents  a  broad  view  of  the  spirit  and 
significance  of  the  event. 


CONTENTS 

PAOB 

FOREWORD 7 

"WELL  DONE!" 17 

AFTER  DINNER  PROGRAM 23 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  HON.  GEORGE  G.  CROCKER     ....  29 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  RICHARD  McLEAN 37 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  WILLIAM  LOWELL  PUTNAM 41 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  GIDEON  FRANCIS  HOLMES 45 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  B.  PRESTON  CLARK 55 

ADDRESS  OF  MR.  EDMOND  J.  LINDSAY 63 

ADDRESS  OF  MAJOR  THOMAS  S.  HOBBS 71 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  HON.  WILLIAM  M.  GERMAN,  M.P.  ...  81 

ADDRESS  OF  THE  REVEREND  W.  W.  DORNAN,  D.D.     .  87 

A  FIFTY-STRAND  LAY  (E.  D.  VER  PLANCK) 97 

"LINES"  (W.  K.  HEATH)      103 

COMMITTEES 107 

SKETCH  OF  THE  LIFE  OF  GIDEON  FRANCIS  HOLMES   .  113 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Gideon  Francis  Holmes Frontispiece 

(Photogravure) 
President  Loring,  Mr.  Holmes,  and  Mr.  Holmes'  Private 

Office Facing  page  8 

Early  Views 18 

Plymouth  Cordage  Company  in  the  United  States  and  in 

Canada 30 

Visitors  Alighting  from  Special  Train  —  Anniversary  Cele- 
bration       46 

Scenes  at  the  Banquet 56 

Serving- Women,  the  Band,  and  Waiters  at  the  Banquet   .  64 

Employees'  Library  —  Loring  Reading- Room 74 

Three  Views  of  Number  3  Mill 88 

Spinning  and  Rope  Making  Machines 98 

Scenes  at  the  Banquet 108 

Gideon  Francis  Holmes 113 

(Reproduction  from  oil-painting  by  Gaugengigl) 

Three  Early  Pictures  and  Birthplace  of  Mr.  Holmes     .    .  120 

A  Group  of  Labor  Day  Show  Pictures 126 

Mill  Number  3 132 

Harris  Hall  — Office  Building 140 

Ball  Field  and  Tower  of  Mill  Number  1  146 


WELL   DONE! 


EDITORIAL  PRINTED  IN  "THE  OUTLOOK,' 
FOR  17  APRIL,   1909 


WELL  DONE! 

ON  March  28  a  boy  of  fifteen,  named 
Holmes,  entered  a  rope  factory  as  an 
office  boy.  He  swept  the  office,  ran 
errands,  and  helped  in  hauling  rope  to  the  scales 
and  tagging  it.  That  was  fifty  years  ago.  Last 
month,  on  the  27th,  the  Plymouth  Cordage 
Company  set  a  holiday  and  made  a  feast.  It 
gathered  together  —  employees,  stockholders,  di- 
rectors —  and,  with  some  five  hundred  guests, 
it  held  a  jubilee.  In  the  huge  hall  on  the  upper 
floor  of  one  of  its  factory  buildings  it  collected 
nearly  two  thousand  people,  over  fourteen  hun- 
dred of  them  workers  in  the  factory  with  brain 
and  hand,  and  set  them  down  to  tables  spread 
with  good  things  to  eat.  At  one  of  the  great 
unoccupied  stretches  in  this  hall  there  was  a 
band  of  musicians  —  all  of  them  connected  with 
the  company ;  and  their  martial  music  and  tune- 
ful airs  resounded  from  the  distance.  This  big 
commercial  organization  was  honoring  Gideon 
Francis  Holmes  because  he  had  given  fifty  years 
of  good  and  faithful  service  to  humanity.  The 


[18] 

men  who  spoke  at  the  end  of  the  banquet  praised 
him  for  his  ambition,  for  his  efficiency,  for  his 
success  in  rising  to  the  place  of  treasurer  and 
manager,  and  for  his  value  to  the  Company ;  but 
it  was  perfectly  clear  that  they  were  thinking  all 
the  time  of  the  man  as  a  servant  of  his  fellow- 
men.  Among  the  speakers  was  an  old  man, 
bent,  white-haired;  as  spokesman  of  the  em- 
ployees he  presented  to  Mr.  Holmes  a  loving 
cup  and  a  gold-headed  cane.  And  as  he  spoke 
seven  other  aged  men  rose  and  stood.  These 
eight  had  all  been  in  the  Company's  employ 
when  that  office  boy  began  his  tasks,  and  they 
were  still  on  the  roll  of  the  Company's  em- 
ployees. When  a  portrait  of  Mr.  Holmes  was 
unveiled,  there  was  cheering;  as  there  was 
when  Mr.  Holmes  himself  spoke,  or  rather  read, 
simply  his  words  of  reminiscence.  In  the  even- 
ing, after  the  guests  had  visited  the  works,  there 
was  a  time  of  social  gathering  with  dancing  in 
the  great  hall.  As  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Holmes  led 
the  "grand  march,"  followed  by  directors  of 
the  company  and  their  wives  and  employees 
and  their  wives,  the  observer  could  hardly  have 
helped  meditating  on  the  change  in  industrial 
conditions  that  had  come  to  pass  during  that  one 


z  o 

8 a 


[19] 

man's  career.  Once  the  employees  were  people 
of  New  England ;  now  they  are  —  what  ?  The 
library,  which  is  as  much  a  part  of  the  plant  as 
the  "ropewalk,"  contains  books  in  Italian, 
German,  French,  Portuguese,  Polish,  and  Rus- 
sian. The  days  have  long  gone  by  when  the 
intimate  relation  of  master  and  apprentice  can 
characterize  industry.  Those  days  cannot  be 
restored.  Steel  machinery  has  brought  into 
existence  the  organization  of  human  machinery. 
Can  that  human  machinery  remain  human? 
That  is  the  question  which  many  people  looking 
on  the  conditions  of  to-day  answer  in  the  nega- 
tive. There  at  North  Plymouth,  however,  was 
an  answer  of  another  kind.  The  library,  the 
woods  within  the  factory  grounds,  the  pleasant 
cottages,  the  bathing  beach,  the  athletic  grounds, 
the  great  hall,  and  such  a  social  gathering,  are 
something  more  than  the  investment  that  a  wise 
dairyman  makes  in  good  stables.  They  are 
symbols  of  that  fellowship  in  industry  which 
can  be  restored,  and,  perhaps  sooner  than  we 
think,  be  made  truer  and  sounder  because 
broader  and  more  far-reaching  than  it  ever  was 
in  the  days  of  the  hand  worker.  The  man 
under  whose  direction  and  management  a  com- 


[20] 

pany  has  been  able  to  seize  upon  and  harness 
this  spirit  of  fellowship  in  work  has  served  the 
world  well.  His  fifty  years  of  service  are  as 
worthy  of  celebration  as  the  fifty-year  service 
of  a  minister  or  doctor  or  judge.  Mr.  Holmes 
and  his  colleagues  have  proved  that  the  manu- 
facturer or  merchant,  as  well  as  the  minister  or 
doctor  or  judge,  can  magnify  his  office. 


AFTER-DINNER  PROGRAM 


ORDER  OF  EXERCISES 

2  P.M DINNER  AND  ADDRESSES 

4.30  to  6  P.M.    .    .    .      INSPECTION  OF  PLANT 

7  to  11  P.M RECEPTION,  Music  AND  DANCING 


AFTER-DINNER  PROGRAM 

MR.   AUGUSTUS   P.   LORING 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  COMPANY,  PRESIDING 

Song,  "America"  By  the  whole  Assembly 

My  country,  't  is  of  thee, 
Sweet  land  of  liberty, 

Of  thee  I  sing; 
Land  where  my  fathers  died, 
Land  of  the  Pilgrim' s  pride, 
From  every  mountain-side 

Let  freedom  ring. 

Let  music  swell  the  breeze, 
And  ring  from  all  the  trees 

Sweet  freedom's  song; 
Let  mortal  tongues  awake, 
Let  all  that  breathe  partake, 
Let  rocks  their  silence  break, 

The  sound  prolong. 

Our  fathers9  God,  to  Thee, 
Author  of  liberty, 

To  thee  we  sing. 
Long  may  our  land  be  bright 
With  freedom's  holy  light; 
Protect  us  by  Thy  might, 

Great  God,  our  King! 

SAMUEL  F.  SMITH 


[24] 
Address  THE  HON.  GEORGE  G.  CROCKER 

Presentation  to  Mr.  Holmes  in  behalf  of 

the  Employees  MR.  RICHARD  McLEAN 

Presentation  to  Mr.  Holmes  in  behalf  of 

the  Stockholders  MR.  WILLIAM  L.  PUTNAM 

Acceptance  By  MR.  HOLMES 

Addresses 

MR.  E.  J.  LINDSAY,  of  Milwaukee 

MR.  T.  S.  HOBBS,  of  Toronto 

THE  HON.  W.  M.  GERMAN,  M.P.,  of  Welland,  Canada 

REV.  W.  W.  DORNAN,  of  Plymouth 

Original  Poem,  "A  Fifty-Strand  Lay," 

By  E.  D.  VER  PLANCK  Read  by  the  Author 

Original  Poem,  "Lines,"  by  W.  K.  HEATH 

Read  by  MR.  CROCKER 

Song,  "Auld  Lang  Syne"  By  the  whole  Assembly 

Should  auld  acquaintance  be  forgot, 

And  never  brought  to  min'? 
Should  auld  acquaintance  be  forgot, 

And  days  o'  lang  syne? 

For  auld  lang  syne,  my  dear, 

For  auld  lang  syne, 
We  'II  tak'  a  cup  o9  kindness  yet 

For  auld  lang  syne. 


[25] 

And  here  's  a  hand,  my  trusty  frieri , 

And  gie  9s  a  hand  o*  thine, 
We  'II  tak'  a  cup  o'  kindness  yet 

For  auld  lang  syne. 

For  auld  lang  syne,  my  dear, 

For  auld  lang  syne, 
We  'II  tak'  a  cup  o'  kindness  yet 

For  auld  lang  syne. 

ROBERT  BURNS 


ADDRESS  OF 
THE  HON.  GEORGE  G.  CROCKER 


MR.  AUGUSTUS  P.  LORING,  President  of  the  Company  and  Chairman 
of  the  Celebration,  introducing  the  Hon.  George  G.  Crocker, 
said : 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen : 

This  celebration,  as  you  all  know,  is  to  commemorate  Jifty  years 
of  faithful  service. 

The  stockholders  of  the  Plymouth  Cordage  Company  are  here 
to  congratulate  Mr.  Holmes,  not  only  because  he  has  managed 
their  affairs  well,  but  also  because  he  has  always  carried  their 
standard  high. 

We  who  serve  the  Company  are  here  because  we  appreciate 
that  under  his  leadership  that  service  has  always  been  dignified  and 
pleasant. 

All  you  gentlemen  who  have  come  from  every  part  of  the  United 
States  and  Canada  are  here  to  show  your  high  regard  for  him  as  a 
merchant  and  a  man.  And  we  are  all  here  because  we  love  him. 
(Applause.) 

The  stockholders  desired  that  Mr.  Holmes  should  not  be  the 
only  person  who  should  have  a  lasting  memorial  of  this  day, 
and  the  directors  have  therefore  had  one  prepared  which  we  now 
propose  to  show  you.  Two  of  the  present  directors,  Mr.  Bartlett 
and  Mr.  Crocker,  were  members  of  the  board  which  selected  Mr. 
Holmes  as  manager  in  1882.  Mr.  Bartlett  is  detained  at  the  sick 
bed  of  a  daughter  —  our  sympathy  is  with  him  —  but  our  senior 
director  is  with  us,  looking  not  much  older  in  years,  but  perhaps 
older  in  wisdom,  though  he  was  wise  enough  twenty-seven  years 
ago  to  pick  out  Mr.  Holmes.  He  himself  has  not  yet  completed  his 
Jifty  years  of  invaluable  service  and  devotion  to  the  Company,  but 
he  is  getting  there. 

I  present  to  you  one  whom  we  all  delight  to  honor  —  the  Hon. 
George  G.  Crocker. 


ADDRESS  OF 
THE  HON.  GEORGE  G.  CROCKER 

THE  happy  occasion  for  our  meeting  to-day 
is  most  unusual.     We  are  glad  that  we 
are  here  to  honor  Mr.  Holmes,  and  he 
is  glad  that  he  is  here.     We  are  glad  that  he  is 
gladr~andJie  is  glad  that  we  are  glad. 

Mr.  Holmes  started  at  what  is  generally 
known  as  the  foot  of  the  ladder.  Perhaps  an 
equally  good  simile  would  be  the  foot  of  a  steep 
cliff  on  which  there  are  occasional  ledges  or 
shelves  or  plateaux. 

The  cliff  is  very  forbidding  to  the  people 
standing  at  its  foot  and  gazing  up  at  its  steep 
and  difficult  sides.  Many  are  discouraged  by 
the  very  aspect  of  it  and  look  around  to  find 
somebody  to  give  them  a  boost.  Woe  unto 
them  if,  having  been  boosted  up  to  a  halting 
place,  they  come  to  the  conclusion  that  for 
them  this  is  the  only  way  to  success.  They  may 
get  another  boost,  or  even  two,  but  sooner  or 
later,  if  they  rely  upon  being  boosted,  they  will 
lose  their  footing  and  slip  back  down  towards 


[30] 

the  bottom.  There  are  others  who  get  up  a 
little  way  by  dragging  down  those  who  have 
already  made  some  progress,  and  these  too  are 
sure,  sooner  or  later,  to  meet  with  disaster.  The 
boy  Gideon  was  not  boosted  nor  did  he  pull 
himself  up  by  dragging  others  down.  He  as- 
saulted the  cliff  with  determination  and  perse- 
verance. The  experience  which  he  had  in 
reaching  his  first  promotion  or  halting  place  was 
valuable  to  him  in  enabling  him  to  reach  the 
second,  and  so  he  has  gone  on  steadily  until  he 
is  at  the  very  top  in  his  chosen  work. 

In  the  sketch  of  his  life  which  we  have  before 
us  to-day  it  appears  that  his  first  duty  for  the 
Company,  fifty  years  ago,  was  to  sweep  out  the 
office.  Now  nothing  is  said  as  to  how  he  per- 
formed that  simple  job,  and  yet  we  all  know 
very  definitely  just  what  he  did  and  did  not  do. 
He  did  not  sweep  the  dust  under  the  table  or 
under  the  desk  or  into  the  corners,  but  he  swept 
that  office  thoroughly,  perhaps  as  it  had  never 
been  swept  before.  At  any  rate  he  swept  it  so 
well  as  to  attract  the  attention  and  induce  the 
favorable  comment  of  his  employers,  making 
them  willing  to  test  him  on  more  important 
work.  In  the  popular  operetta  of  "The  Lass 


[31] 

who  Loved  a  Sailor,"  commonly  known  as 
"Pinafore,"  Sir  Joseph  Porter,  K.  C.  B.,  tells 
the  story  of  his  life.  This  is  the  description  of 
his  first  employment  in  a  lawyer's  office: 

"I  cleaned  the  windows  and  I  swept  the  floor 
and  I  polished  up  the  handle  of  the  big  front 
door,  —  I  polished  up  the  handle  so  carefully 
that  now  I  am  the  ruler  of  the  Queen's  Navy." 
So  we  may  say  of  Mr.  Holmes  that  he  swept  the 
offico^ooirefully  that  now  he  is  the  head  of  our 
great  company. 

Merit  alone  has  been  the  cause  of  his  success. 
We  have  just  sung  "America."  One  of  the 
principal  reasons  why  our  country  is  dear  to  us 
and  why  we  rejoice  in  singing  its  praises  is  that 
in  these  United  States  there  is  no  passport  to 
the  highest  office  in  private  or  in  public  life  so 
potent  as  merit. 

A  few  weeks  ago  the  people  of  the  whole  coun- 
try on  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
birth  of  Abraham  Lincoln  paid  to  his  memory 
a  most  impressive  tribute.  He  too  started  at 
the  foot  of  the  cliff.  By  merit  alone  he  rose  to 
be  our  President.  That  in  this  country  there  is 
no  barrier  which  merit  cannot  pass  is  well  ex- 
pressed in  the  Constitution  of  this  State.  I 


[32] 

think  it  is  in  the  sixth  article  of  part  first  of  the 
Constitution  in  which  practically  these  words 
are  used:  Public  office  is  not  hereditary  nor 
transmissible  to  children  or  descendants  or 
relatives  by  blood,  and  to  state  that  a  man  is 
born  a  magistrate  or  a  law-giver  or  a  judge  is 
both  absurd  and  unnatural. 

We  are  not  here  to  celebrate  any  great  single 
work  of  Mr.  Holmes,  but  we  are  here  to  express 
our  appreciation  of  the  grand  total  of  the  good 
work  of  each  day  of  all  the  months  in  all  the 
fifty  years  of  his  service.  That  employees  and 
stockholders  alike  join  heartily  and  enthusiasti- 
cally in  this  expression  there  has  already  been 
the  best  of  evidence,  and  I  venture  to  prophesy 
that  still  more  conclusive  proof  will  be  given 
before  this  festival  is  ended. 

It  is  reported  to  me  that  Mrs.  Holmes,  a  short 
time  ago,  in  telling  of  the  first  days  of  their 
married  life,  said  that  she  well  remembered  how 
pale  and  handsome  he  was,  as  with  a  smile  on 
his  face  he  looked  up  at  her  from  a  hole  which 
he  was  digging  to  serve  as  a  cesspool.  That 
recollection  of  hers  has  a  sweet  pathos  in  it  and 
is  an  eloquent  testimonial  to  the  man.  What- 
ever he  has  done  he  has  so  done  that  the  man 


[83] 

has  dignified  the  work.  As  Mrs.  Holmes  in 
their  early  married  life  saw  beauty  in  his  face 
when  he  was  at  work  digging  that  hole,  and  as 
she  may  well  be  justified  in  thinking  him  hand- 
some still,  so  the  directors  to-day  see  in  his  face 
the  expression  of  his  life,  and  they  have  em- 
ployed the  well-known  artist,  Mr.  I.  M.  Gaug- 
engigl,  to  paint  his  portrait  to  be  hung  in  the 
office  of  the  Company,  that  the  beneficent  in- 
fluenceoT~iiis  face  may  be  exerted  there  when 
he  is  absent  as  well  as  when  he  is  present.  It 
is  my  privilege  now  to  unveil  this  portrait. 
(Long  continued  applause  followed  the  unveil- 
ing of  the  portrait.) 

As  we  all  know,  Mr.  Holmes  is  still  a  young 
man.  He  is  a  younger  man  even  than  I  am  — 
just  six  days  younger.  You  see  how  much 
younger  he  looks.  That  goes  to  prove  that  his 
life,  with  and  for  the  Company,  has  agreed  with 
him  remarkably  well.  The  fact  that  he  is  still 
young  is  one  of  the  causes  of  our  happiness  to- 
day. It  means  a  continuance  of  the  good 
things  of  the  past,  and  so  we  all,  stockholders 
and  employees  alike,  not  only  congratulate  him 
to-day,  but  also  congratulate  ourselves.  We 
rejoice  and  are  exceedingly  glad  that  we  are 


[34] 

justified  in  the  expectation  that  we  shall  be 
blessed  for  a  long  time  with  that  unfailing 
and  wise  devotion  to  our  interests  which  has 
endeared  him  to  us,  and  which  for  these  many 
years  has  been  a  controlling  influence  in 
promoting  the  prosperity  of  our  Company. 
(Applause.) 


ADDRESS  OF 
MR.   RICHARD    McLEAN 


PRESIDENT  LOBING  said : 

There  are  still  eight  men  on  the  pay  rolls  of  the  Company  who 
were  working  for  the  Company  when  Mr.  Holmes  first  went  to 
work  in  the  office  fifty  years  ago.  One  of  these  was  his  first  "6055," 
and  two  of  these  are  still  working  for  the  Company.  Besides  being 
contemporaries  of  Mr.  Holmes,  they  have  also  been  his  friends; 
and  it  was  most  fitting  that  they  should  be  intrusted  by  the  opera- 
tives with  the  present  which  all  the  operatives  of  the  Company 
have  joined  in  getting  for  Mr.  Holmes.  I  have  the  pleasure  of  in- 
troducing Mr.  Richard  McLean.  (Applause.) 


ADDRESS  OF 
MR.    RICHARD    McLEAN 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

IT  gives  me  very  great  pleasure  to  be  here 
to-day  to  celebrate  the  fiftieth  anniversary 
of  the  business  connection  of  our  worthy 
treasurer. 

Havmg-known  him  all  these  years,  and  hav- 
ing been  in  daily  touch  with  him  in  business  of 
this  Plymouth  Cordage  Company  for  twenty- 
one  years  of  his  management,  in  all  this  long 
period  our  intercourse  was  always  pleasant  and 
courteous. 

So  it  is  a  great  pleasure  for  me,  in  behalf  of 
the  older  men  who  have  grown  gray  with  him 
in  the  service,  and  also  in  behalf  of  all  the  em- 
ployees of  the  Plymouth  Cordage  Company,  to 
present  to  him  this  loving  cup. 

It  may  appear  to  be  empty,  but  it  is  not;  if 
you  can  see  what  is  within  its  brim  you  see  that 
it  is  full  and  running  over  with  esteem  and  best 
wishes  of  every  one  of  these  employees.  (Turn- 
ing to  Mr.  Holmes.)  Sir,  in  behalf  of  these 


[38] 

employees  I  present  to  you  this  loving  cup. 
Also  let  me  add:  the  committee  which  I  repre- 
sent thought  you  ought  to  have  a  cane  in  addi- 
tion to  the  cup,  which  I  now  present  to  you.  As 
you  lean  upon  this  cane  I  want  you,  sir,  to  re- 
member that  you  can  always  lean  upon  your 
old  friends  for  any  support  that  they  can  give 
you.  (Applause.) 


ADDRESS  OF 
MR.   WILLIAM  LOWELL  PUTNAM 


PRESIDENT  LORING  said : 

The  stockholders  of  the  Company  did  not  wish  this  day  to  pass 
without  bestowing  on  Mr.  Holmes  a  substantial  gift  to  mark  their 
appreciation  of  his  character  and  ability. 

They  have  appointed  a  committee  to  carry  out  their  wishes,  and 
have  chosen  a  chairman  who  has  some  timely  words  to  speak  on 
this  occasion.  I  introduce  the  man  of  the  hour,  William  Lowell 
Putnam. 


ADDRESS  OF 
MR.   WILLIAM  LOWELL  PUTNAM 

MB.  PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

IT  is  a  great  honor  to  have  been  deputed  to 
present  on  behalf  of  the  stockholders  their 
gift  to  Mr.   Holmes  on  this  joyful  anni- 
versary.    It  has  been  a  great  privilege  to  share 
in  the  arrangements  for  giving  their  enthusiasm 
some  chance  to  show  itself  in  action.    As  one  of 
them  writes  in  sending  his  contribution:    "It 
is  a  pleasure  to  have  any  part  in  a  testimonial 
so  well  deserved." 

A  friend  of  mine  starting  on  a  journey  in 
foreign  countries  conceived  the  happy  idea  of 
having  a  card  printed  for  use  in  shopping, 
bearing  on  its  face  in  many  languages  the  ques- 
tion, "What  does  it  cost?"  After  receiving  his 
answer  he  turned  to  the  happily  expectant 
shopkeeper  the  reverse  side,  which  bore  the 
painful  legend,  "I  will  give  you  half."  For  us, 
however,  there  was  no  such  sad  experience; 
the  cards  we  receive  read:  "I  will  give  you 
double."  One  stockholder,  referring  to  his 


[42] 

contribution,  writes:  "The  amount  is  so  in- 
significant, it  seems  to  me,  for  such  a  worthy 
cause,  that  I  wish  it  might  have  been  an  auto- 
mobile instead  of  a  watch."  And  that  was  the 
feeling  of  all.  All  were  glad  to  join  in  giving, 
and  all  would  gladly  have  given  more. 

You  remember  the  old  conundrum:  "Who 
was  the  smallest  man  mentioned  in  the  Bible?" 
And  the  answer:  "Peter,  because  he  slept  on 
his  watch."  Alas !  this  modern  time-piece  is 
too  small  a  thing  to  serve  so  excellent  a  purpose, 
but  it  does  not  matter  for  we  all  know  that  Mr. 
Holmes  never  does  go  to  sleep  on  his  watch. 

Small  as  it  is,  it  carries  a  mountain  of  regard 
and  gratitude  and  honor  from  our  six  hundred 
and  sixty  stockholders. 

We  hope  that  it  will  prove  a  timely  gift  and 
wish  that  the  perpetual  calendar  on  its  face  may 
record  for  Mr.  Holmes  another  useful  and  pros- 
perous fifty  years.  (Applause.) 


ADDRESS  OF 
MR.  GIDEON  FRANCIS  HOLMES 


PRESIDENT  LORING  said: 

We  can  turn  out  good  rope  at  Plymouth  or  Wetland;  rope  which 
you  can  trust  to  hold  you  to  your  anchor  in  the  fiercest  storm;  rope 
that  you  can  swing  yourself  over  a  precipice  with  and  know  that 
it  will  not  break.  But  only  the  boy,  with  the  help  of  God,  can  turn 
out  the  man  that  you  can  trust. 

We  can,  and  do,  give  the  boy  the  chance,  but  he  must  do  the  rest. 
There  was  a  boy  born  around  here  who  turned  out  such  a  man. 
I  introduce  a  man  you  can  trust,  the  hero  of  the  day,  Gideon 
Francis  Holmes. 


ADDRESS  OF 
MR.   GIDEON  FRANCIS  HOLMES 

MB.  PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

YOUR  expressions  of  personal  friendship 
and  affection  have  touched  me  greatly 
and  of  which  I  am  not  lacking  in  ap- 
preciation.    Many  of  you  have  come  from  a 
long  distance;    busy  men,  holding  responsible 
positions ;  yet  you  find  time  to  come  here,  at  no 
little  pers^ii^LJnconvenience,  to  help  me  cele- 
brate.    Hard  would  be  the  heart  that  was  not 
deeply  touched  by  such  evidence  of  friendship. 

During  the  past  few  years  many  of  my  friends 
have  asked  me  what  I  proposed  to  do  on  my 
Fiftieth  Anniversary,  but,  as  usual,  they  have 
helped  me  out  and  answered  the  question  them- 
selves. Their  kindness  and  affection  are  most 
beautifully  expressed  in  this  Loving  Cup,  Cane, 
Watch,  and  (Glass  Pitcher  from  Welland). 
Not  only  the  gifts  themselves,  but  the  kind 
thoughts  which  prompted  the  employees,  direc- 
tors, and  stockholders  will  always  remain  in 
my  heart  as  fond  memories  of  this  celebration. 


[46] 

I  doubt  if  there  are  many  at  the  present  time 
who  fully  realize  the  changes  that  have  taken 
place  in  this  vicinity  during  the  past  fifty  years. 
Going  back  to  the  commencement  of  my  ser- 
vices with  the  Plymouth  Cordage  Company, 
there  were  only  twenty-seven  houses  and  two 
stores  between  the  house  where  I  now  live  and 
the  Kingston  line,  which  is  a  distance  of  about 
one  mile  and  one  eighth.  There  were  no  side 
streets,  but  there  was  a  lane  leading  to  one  or 
two  houses  located  at  the  foot  of  what  is  now 
Castle  Street,  also  a  lane  leading  to  two  houses 
owned  by  the  Company,  which  were  located  at 
the  end  of  what  is  now  called  Bourne  Street. 
The  house  on  the  hill  was  called  the  Wood 
Block,  and  in  getting  to  it  we  had  to  pass  a 
dense  swamp  on  the  one  side  and  a  heavy  strip 
of  wood  on  the  other.  These  buildings,  located 
on  lanes,  are  included  in  the  above  number. 

At  the  present  time,  between  my  house  and 
the  Kingston  line,  including  side  streets,  there 
are  three  hundred  and  twenty-three  houses, 
nearly  thirty  stables,  two  churches  and  a  large 
chapel,  thirty-three  stores,  a  library,  and  a 
dining  hall. 

There  were  no  sidewalks  in  this  part  of  the 


[47] 

town,  but  on  one  side  of  the  road,  usually  on 
the  easterly  side,  there  was  a  foot-path.  When 
the  weather  was  rough  we  had  to  take  to  the 
roads,  which  were  none  too  good  in  those  days, 
and  very  poor  as  compared  with  the  present 
time.  If  any  of  us  wanted  to  go  into  the  village 
there  was  no  waiting  around  on  the  corners  or 
looking  for  the  white  posts  to  take  an  electric 
car,  for  there  was  none.  There  were  no  public 
conveyances  of  any  kind,  and  it  was  either  walk, 
ask  a  ride  of  some  neighbor,  or  stay  at  home.  In 
those  times,  however,  it  was  not  considered  a 
hardship  to  have  to  walk  two  or  more  miles ;  in 
fact,  even  ^after^the  telegraph  was  introduced, 
and  before  a  branch  was  put  into  our  office, 
messages  were  brought  to  us  by  a  man,  living 
in  the  village,  we  having  an  arrangement  with 
him  to  deliver  them  at  a  cost  of  fifty  cents 
per  trip,  and  he  usually  walked  both  out 
and  in. 

In  the  manufacturing  part,  all  of  the  small 
work,  such  as  Spunyarn,  small  Wormline,  Ham- 
broline,  etc.,  was  made  by  hand.  Four  spinning 
wheels  were  regularly  in  commission,  and  every 
now  and  then  a  fifth  one  was  started  up.  These 
have  all  been  laid  aside  and  are  something  of 


[48] 

the  past.  The  slow  speed,  open  flyer  spinning- 
jennies  are  also  of  the  past  and  in  their  place  we 
now  have  the  fast  speed  closed  flyer.  Lappers 
were  discarded  years  ago  and  in  their  place  we 
have  spreaders.  It  was  only  a  little  more  than 
fifty  years  ago  that  inventors  were  trying  to 
bring  out  machines  for  making  rope,  particu- 
larly in  the  small  sizes,  and  when  I  first  came 
here  to  work  there  were  only  seven  machines. 
Great  changes  and  improvements  have  been 
made  on  the  first  machines  that  were  produced, 
and  for  several  years  it  has  not  been  actually 
necessary  to  have  the  ropewalk  in  order  to  pro- 
duce rope  of  large  sizes  and  long  lengths. 

If  Longfellow  had  been  born  seventy-five 
years  later  I  fancy  we  would  never  have  had 
that  beautiful  poem  entitled,  "The  Ropewalk," 
and  I  think  that  some  of  the  little  boys,  in  most 
instances  not  over  ten  years  of  age,  who  used  to 
turn  the  spinning  wheels  and  were  obliged  to  be 
at  their  places  and  commence  work  at  five 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  would  feel  inclined  to 
change  the  next  to  the  last  line  of  the  last  verse 
of  Longfellow's  poem,  and  have  it  read : 

"  With  a  drowsy,  dreamy  feeling, 
And  the  spinners  backward  go." 


[49] 

But,  happily,  all  these  conditions  have  been 
changed  and  now  our  mill  starts  at  seven  o'clock 
instead  of  five  in  the  morning,  and  most  of  the 
monotonous,  humdrum  work  of  fifty  years  ago, 
such  as  turning  the  wheel,  tending  the  lapper, 
following  small  rope  on  the  grounds,  etc.,  are 
things  of  the  past. 

It  has  always  been  a  matter  of  great  satis- 
faction to  me  that  I  could  depend  on  the  hearty 
co-operation  of  the  employees  of  our  Company. 
They  have  always  shown  a  spirit  of  determin- 
ation to  excel  in  everything  they  undertake. 
If  music  is  wanted  they  furnish  a  band  that 
will  give  you  music  better  than  most  bands  and 
which  will  compare  favorably  with  the  best. 
You  have  an  illustration  of  this  here  to-day; 
and  I  want  to  say  that  I  appreciate  having  OUT 
own  band  furnish  music  for  this  occasion. 

The  Field  Day  Sports  and  tent  exhibitions  of 
the  employees  are  always  exceedingly  interest- 
ing and  draw  a  large  crowd  of  people  from  the 
surrounding  towns ;  and  it  is  this  same  spirit  of 
co-operation  and  determination  to  excel  that 
has  enabled  the  Plymouth  Cordage  Company  to 
put  goods  on  the  market,  of  the  best  quality  that 
can  be  produced.  They  are  well  known  over 


[50] 

the  entire  United  States  and  Canada,  and  it  is 
not  an  uncommon  thing  to  get  letters  from  for- 
eign lands  speaking  in  the  most  complimentary 
way  of  the  quality  of  goods  we  turn  out.  We 
have  recently  had  an  illustration  of  this  point. 
One  of  our  friends  within  a  few  days  sent  us  a 
letter  in  which  the  following  extract  appeared: 

"Not  having  had  any  orders  for  some  time 
from  our  good  friends  in  Holland,  for  whom  you 
have  repeatedly  made  large  hawsers,  we  wrote 
them  recently  and  to-day  are  in  receipt  of  their 
letter,  which  is  so  interesting  that  we  quote  from 
it  as  follows: 

"'It  is  quite  true  that  we  have  not  had  the 
pleasure  of  addressing  you  for  some  time.  This, 
however,  is  not  due  to  a  lack  of  appreciation  of 
the  good  quality  of  your  ropes,  but  is  a  result  of 
the  strength  and  durability  of  the  material  they 
are  made  of,  as  we  are  able  to  do  with  same  so 
much  longer  as  with  ropes  we  used  formerly. 
All  our  tugs  are  well  stocked  with  hawsers,  but 
no  doubt  we  will  want  some  more  ropes  when 
the  year  advances.  We  won't  fail  to  let  you 
know  about  our  requirements." 

And  whether  it  be  rope,  twine,  or  any  other 
goods  made  by  our  Company,  the  system  and 


[51] 

organization  are  such  that  the  trade  has  re- 
ceived in  the  past,  and  will  continue  to  receive 
in  the  future,  the  very  best  that  can  be  pro- 
duced. The  word  "PLYMOUTH"  stands  for 
quality,  and  is  known  the  world  over.  The 
system  and  organization  were  never  in  more 
perfect  working  order  than  at  the  present  time. 
My  faith  and  confidence  in  the  organization 
warrants  me  in  saying  that  the  word  "PLY- 
MOUTH" will,  in  the  future,  as  it  has  in  the  past, 
stand  for  the  best  that  can  be  produced.  To  me 
the  future  of  our  Company  is  bright  and 
hopeful. 

There  have  been  many  times,  during  the 
fifty  years,  when  the  outlook  has  seemed  dis- 
couraging anth&e  future  dark  and  gloomy,  but 
I  have  had  such  hearty  support,  on  the  part  of 
the  directors,  and  splendid  backing  by  the  em- 
ployees, that  obstacles  have  been  surmounted 
and  the  outcome  quite  satisfactory;  and  as  I 
review  the  past,  I  can  say  I  have  spent  fifty 
very  pleasant  and  happy  years.  (Applause.) 


ADDRESS   OF 
MR.   B.   PRESTON   CLARK 


PRESIDENT  LORING  said : 

We  believe  that  a  Company  like  ours  is  a  valuable  asset  to  the 
Commonwealth,  and  a  man  like  Mr.  Holmes,  a  jewel  in  her 
crown. 

We  are  not  a  predatory  corporation;  we  ask  and  take  no  illegal 
rebates;  and  we  keep  out  of  court.  We  mean  to  give  every  man 
his  due.  We  are  decent  people  —  at  least  we  think  so  —  and  so 
we  were  not  afraid  to  ask  a  judge  of  our  highest  court,  the  Hon. 
William  Caleb  Loring,  to  speak  here  to-day.  Unfortunately  he 
cannot;  but  in  his  place  I  shall  call  one  who  was  for  twenty  years 
a  competitor  of  Mr.  Holmes,  and  nevertheless  a  warm  friend  and 
now  a  director  of  this  Company,  one  who  is  noted  for  his  philan- 
thropy and  who  is  a  judge  of  men  —  Mr.  B.  Preston  Clark. 


ADDRESS  OF 
MR.   B.  PRESTON  CLARK 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

MY  only  claim  to  speak  here  to-day  is 
that  I  am  perhaps  the  only  man  pres- 
ent who,  as  manager  of  the  Pearson 
Cordage  Company,  and  later  of  the  McCormick 
mills,  was  a  keen  competitor  of  the  Plymouth 
Cordage  Company  for  nearly  twenty  years. 

A  cannibal  was  once  asked  whether  he  knew 
a  certain  missionary,  to  which  he  replied,  "Yes, 
I  knew  him  intimately,  I  ate  a  piece  of  him." 
In  the  present  case  the  result  has  been  quite 
otherwise.  I  camfbtjruly  say  of  the  Plymouth 
Cordage  Company  what  the  cannibal  did  of  the 
missionary,  but  am  quite  persuaded  that  the 
missionary  has  devoured  me  entirely. 

As  far  as  one  in  that  unusual  position  can  say 
anything,  I  should  like  to  speak  briefly  of  the 
Plymouth  Cordage  Company  from  without  and 
within. 

As  a  competitor  they  hit  hard,  but  always 
above  the  belt.  The  greatest  volume  of  trade 


[56J 

consistent  with  perfect  integrity  was  the  meas- 
ure of  the  keenness  of  their  competition.  But 
only  as  it  has  been  my  privilege  to  come  to  know 
this  Company  from  within  have  I  at  all  realized 
what  it  actually  is.  It  is  not  often  that  the 
chance  comes  to  me  to  have  a  joke  at  Mr. 
Holmes'  expense,  but  I  have  to-day,  and  he  has 
given  it  to  me.  He  has  spoken  of  our  organiza- 
tion; of  its  loyalty,  its  ability,  and  its  perma- 
nent character,  and  all  that  he  says  of  it  is  true. 
But  in  his  desire,  ever  modestly,  to  keep  in  the 
background  he  has  unconsciously  paid  himself 
a  higher  tribute  than  any  of  which  I  could  have 
thought. 

The  soul  of  the  Plymouth  Cordage  Company 
is  in  this  mill  to-day.  For  it  is  the  men  and 
women  whose  united  work  is  spelling  success 
that  are  its  life.  It  is  an  organism,  instinct  with 
vitality  and  loyalty. 

As  is  known  to  us  all,  the  trend  of  American 
business  for  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  has 
been  toward  great  enterprises,  huge  machines; 
and  the  men  who  have  come  to  the  front  have 
been  those  who  could  build  and  guide  such 
machines.  To-day  the  wise  business  men  are 
searching  for  those  who  have,  with  this  con- 


SCENES  AT  THE  BANQUET 


[57] 

structive  ability,  the  capacity  to  make  those 
great  machines  alive,  and  who  shall,  through 
their  personality  and  capacity  for  leadership, 
inspire  that  personal  loyalty  which  is  one  of  our 
finest  human  qualities.  And  this  Mr.  Holmes 
has  done.  As  his  ancestors  came  to  this  new, 
untried  country,  he  has  in  his  turn  been  a  true 
pioneer.  He  has  created  not  simply  a  machine, 
but  a  live  thing,  with  the  permanent  power 
within  itself  of  growth  and  development.  It  is 
from  a  fairly  wide  knowledge  of  most  of  the 
concerns  in  this  country  in  our  line  of  business 
that  I  can  safely  say  that  no  one  of  them  com- 
pares with  the  Plymouth  Cordage  Company  in 
this  respect.  In  the  character  and  ability  of 
those  who  manufacture  our  product,  who  dis- 
tribute our  goods,  who  furnish  our  raw  materials, 
and  who  are  the  owners  of  our  stock,  as  well  as 
in  that  of  our  President  and  Directors  who 
represent  those  stockholders,  there  is  a  spirit  of 
team  work,  and  a  hard  driving  force  that  is  carry- 
ing us  to  the  front  all  along  the  line,  and  is 
bound  to  increase  with  every  coming  year. 

It  is  a  fact  that  each  and  every  one  of  us  here 
to-day  is  proud  and  glad  to  be  a  part  of  this 
organization.  And  we  shall  go  away  from  here 


[58] 

with  the  purpose  to  continue  this  celebration  in 
honor  of  Mr.  Holmes  along  the  lines  which  he 
himself  has  suggested,  by  doing  our  part  and  a 
little  more  to  strengthen  the  organization  and 
maintain  its  high  reputation. 

But  besides  our  assured  and  increasing  com- 
mercial success,  there  is  yet  another  and  a 
broader  value  in  this  great  Company.  It  stands 
for  honesty  and  ability.  Mr.  Holmes  and  all 
those  associated  with  him  in  his  company  stand 
like  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land 
in  this  age  when  great  commercial  success  is  not 
always  joined  with  great  commercial  honesty. 

The  standards  of  this  Company  help  to  show 
the  high  water  mark,  bar  none,  of  the  commer- 
cial life  of  to-day,  and  as  such  it  does  a  service 
to  the  public  and  this  Commonwealth  which  is 
incalculable. 

The  coming  generation  of  young  men,  eager 
and  alert,  are  ever  entering  the  threshold  of  the 
great  world  of  commerce.  At  first,  life  looks 
simple.  But  soon  comes  to  each  and  every  one 
of  them  the  question,  What  standards  shall  I 
adopt  in  my  business  life  ?  Can  I  be  both  hon- 
est and  successful,  or  must  it  be  a  choice  between 
the  two?  And  to  that  question,  so  vital  in  its 


[59] 

bearing  on  this  American  life  of  ours,  men  like 
Mr.  Holmes,  men  such  as  those  who  make  up 
our  working  force  —  in  a  word  a  concern  like 
ours  —  give,  and  shall  give  for  many  a  day,  the 
answer  in  no  uncertain  tones.  (Applause.) 


ADDRESS  OF 
MR.   EDMOND   J.   LINDSAY 


PRESIDENT  LORING  said : 

Some  of  you  may  know,  and  some  of  you  may  not  know,  that 
Mr.  Bourne  Spooner,  prior  to  the  foundation  of  the  Plymouth  Cord- 
age Company,  was  engaged  at  New  Orleans  in  the  manufacture 
of  rope  by  slave  labor.  One  of  his  ideas  in  founding  the  works  at 
Plymouth  was  to  show  that  rope  made  by  free  labor  was  better  and 
could  compete  successfully  with  that  made  by  slaves. 

To-day  we  are  confronted  by  the  same  problem.  In  many  of 
the  western  States  prison  plants  have  been  erected  to  make  binder 
twine.  This  is  not  done  to  give  the  necessary  employment  to  the 
prisoners,  but  for  a  commercial  venture,  as  is  shown  by  their  run- 
ning their  machinery  at  night  to  get  out  a  big  product.  So  Mr. 
Holmes  has  the  same  problem  to  fight  that  Mr.  Spooner  had.  But 
Mr.  Holmes  has  an  able,  honest,  and  capable  lieutenant  in  the 
field,  not  only  a  wise  counsellor  and  aid,  but  oho  a  warm  admirer 
and  a  personal  jriend,  whom  it  is  now  my  pleasure  to  introduce  — 
Mr.  Edmond  J.  Lindsay  of  Milwaukee. 


ADDRESS  OF 
MR.  EDMOND  J.  LINDSAY 

MB.  PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

I  COUNT  it  a  privilege  to  participate  in 
this  anniversary  celebration.  With  the 
official  invitation  to  be  present,  there  was 
included  a  request  to  "make  a  short  address 
upon  my  relations  with  Mr.  Holmes,  or  such 
other  matter  bearing  upon  the  celebration  as 
might  seem  to  me  appropriate."  But  coupled 
with  this  was  a  time  limit,  which  in  view  of  the 
duration  of  my  relations  with  Mr.  Holmes,  may 
prove  embarrassing.  When,  however,  I  thought 
of  the  number  present  who  have  had  relations 
with  him,  of  which  it  would  be  a  pleasure  to 
speak,  and  who  would  have  no  opportunity,  I 
realized  the  favor  shown  me  in  allotment  of  any 
time  for  such  expression.  There  is  a  legend  or 
tradition  concerning  the  first  visit  of  Mr.  Holmes 
to  Milwaukee,  for  which  I  suspect  he  is  in  some 
measure  responsible.  The  story  is,  that  he 
found  himself  on  a  cold,  raw,  wintry  day  landed 
at  a  small  wooden  railway  station  without  com- 


[64] 

fort  or  conveniences  but  indicating  the  Mil- 
waukee terminal  of  the  road.  Upon  inquiring 
for  a  sleigh  or  carriage,  he  was  directed  to  a 
forlorn  individual  in  command  of  a  raw  boned 
animal  attached  to  a  pung,  on  which  was  a 
rough  box,  a  board  across  for  a  seat,  which  was 
draped  with  a  well-seasoned  buffalo  robe,  minus 
the  fur.  With  this  escort  he  found  his  cus- 
tomer, transacted  his  business,  and  was  again 
safely  returned  to  the  station,  where  another 
dilemma  confronted  him.  The  five-dollar  bill 
handed  to  the  driver  was  a  "stunner."  He  had 
never  handled  a  piece  of  money  of  such  value, 
and  it  was  a  question  whether  it  could  be 
changed.  This,  however,  was  duly  accom- 
plished after  many  of  the  business  places  of  the 
city  had  been  visited.  Now  this  is  supposed  by 
him  to  be  a  fair  illustration  of  existing  conditions 
in  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin,  when  he  first  knew 
the  city.  I  speak  of  this  to  show  that  our  friend 
who  stands  for  all  that  is  true,  straightforward 
and  level-headed  can,  when  occasion  demands, 
give  rein  to  his  imagination. 

Long  and  intimate  acquaintance  with  Ply- 
mouth Cordage,  when  the  imagination  is  not 
held  in  check,  seems  to  lead  to  strange  exagger- 


TAKEN  AT  THE  BANQUET 
WAITRESSES  — CORDAGE  BAND  — WAITERS 


[65] 

ation,  as  further  shown  by  letter  received  this 
week  from  a  Wisconsin  customer  who  wrote: 

"I  have  been  selling  Plymouth  twine  for  the 
last  five  years  exclusively  and  my  predecessors 
for  thirty-five  years ;  making  an  unbroken  record 
of  Plymouth  twine  sales  in  Waterloo  for  forty 
years.  My  customers  often  state  that  they  have 
threaded  their  binders  at  the  beginning  of 
harvest  with  Plymouth  Diamond  L  twine,  and 
have  unthreaded  at  close  of  harvest  without 
break,  or  one  minute's  trouble  with  twine  during 
the  whole  harvest." 

Possibly  Mr.  Holmes  on  that  first  visit  may 
have,  through  the  predecessor  of  the  writer  from 
whom  I  have  quoted,  then  and  there  arranged 
for  the  introduction  of  Plymouth  Diamond  L 
binder  twine  into  Wisconsin,  and  the  binder 
needles  have  been  threaded  with  it  ever  since. 

A  poet,  whom  all  the  world  loves,  says:  "Oh, 
that  some  one  the  gift  would  give  us  to  see  our- 
selves as  others  see  us."  (This  is  not  given  in 
the  original  vernacular.)  This  desire  may 
some  time  have  been  in  the  heart  of  our  friend, 
and  if  so,  may  not  this  be  a  fitting  time  to  grant 
such  wish?  If  so,  I  will  gladly  contribute  my 
quota,  and  in  doing  so,  comply  with  the  condi- 


[66] 

tion  attached  to  my  invitation,  and  speak  of 
Mr.  Holmes  as  I  have  known  him  —  a  man  of 
sterling  integrity,  of  rare  sagacity  and  shrewd- 
ness in  business,  but  whose  keen  perception  is 
always  tempered  with  regard  for  the  rights  of 
others.  It  is  not  because  "honesty  is  the  best 
policy,"  that  inflexible  integrity  dominates  his 
business  intercourse  with  his  fellows.  This 
characteristic,  with  him,  is  blended  with  a 
friendship  that  has  its  root  in  the  golden  rule: 
"Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do 
unto  you,  do  ye  even  so  unto  them."  His  suc- 
cessful management  of  his  great  company  has 
been  phenomenal,  and  cannot  be  accounted  for 
by  shrewdness  and  sagacity  alone,  but  by  a 
combination  of  these  qualities  with  the  others 
named.  He  has  faced  perplexities  and  diffi- 
culties never  encountered  by  his  predecessors, 
and  before  which  other  strong  men,  contem- 
porary with  himself  in  the  same  business  and 
with  equal  opportunities,  have  succumbed  and 
made  shipwreck,  while  he  has  carried  his  com- 
pany steadily  forward  from  year  to  year  with 
increasing  success  and  prestige.  I  know  I 
speak  for  hundreds  here  to-day  when  I  say,  no 
employer  has  ever  had  more  enthusiastic  loy- 


[67] 

ally  and  faithful  co-operation  than  is  found  in 
the  ranks  of  those  who  are  now  associated  with 
him  in  the  Plymouth  Cordage  Works,  and  the 
same  can  be  said  of  those  who,  from  the  Atlantic 
to  the  Pacific,  and  the  Gulf  to  the  snowclad 
mountains  of  the  north,  are  the  representatives 
of  this  great  Company.  Plymouth  products  are 
now  everywhere  recognized  as  the  highest  type 
of  excellence  in  the  cordage  industry,  and  it  is 
also  recognized  that  the  man  who,  more  than 
any  other  one  man,  has  accomplished  this,  is 
Gideon  F.  Holmes. 

I  would  like  to  speak  of  other  personal  traits 
as  we  know  him,  but  must  forbear.  How  well 
some  of  us  remember  business  adjustments  that 
have  been  made,  and  differences  bridged  by  his 
quiet  considerateness  made  irresistible  when 
accompanied  by  the  twinkle  of  the  kindly  eyes 
of  our  friend.  Controversy  has  ceased  and 
friendship  has  been  cemented.  Added  to  all 
this,  he  is  a  philanthropist,  not  the  sentimental 
kind  that  makes  a  trade  of  philanthropy,  but 
the  broad-minded,  tolerant,  patient  observer  of 
men,  who  knows  the  frailties  of  human  nature, 
and  is  ready  always  and  everywhere  to  make  all 
allowances  for  them.  In  his  own  personality  he 


[68] 

is  cheerfully  welcome  wherever  he  goes.  There 
is  inspiration  and  helpfulness  in  his  friendship. 
He  lives  in  the  love  and  confidence  of  many,  and 
he  will  be  remembered  with  grateful  and  abid- 
ing affection.  (Applause.) 


ADDRESS  OF 
MAJOR   THOMAS   S.   HOBBS 


PRESIDENT  LORING  said: 

From  Mr.  Holmes  in  the  office  to  the  youngest  boy  who  tends  a 
balling  machine  in  the  mills  we  mean  to  be  fair,  and  we  mean  to 
be  honest.  I  know  that  self-praise  goes  but  little  ways,  but  I  also 
know  that  a  good  name,  like  a  rose,  carries  its  fragrance  with  it 
wherever  it  goes. 

There  are  men  who  have  carried  the  name  of  the  Plymouth 
Cordage  Company  west  across  the  plains  of  Assiniboia  and  Sas- 
katchewan, and  north  to  Hudson's  Bay.  One  of  these  is  with  us 
to-day.  I  mean,  Major  Thomas  S.  Hobbs  of  London,  Ontario. 


ADDRESS  OF 
MAJOR  THOMAS  S.  HOBBS 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

IT  affords  me  much  pleasure  to  be  with  you 
this  day.  When  we  first  heard  of  this  in- 
tended celebration  we  were  not  sure  of 
being  counted  in.  In  fact  we  were  something 
like  the  school  marm  who  asked  a  class  of  small 
boys  the  question,  "Who  was  the  first  man?" 
A  little  nipper  at  the  foot  of  the  class  held  up 
his  hand.  The  teacher  said,  "Who  was  it, 
Willie?"  "George  Washington,"  said  Master 
Willie.  "Oh,  no!"  was  the  reply,  "did  you 
never  hear  of  Adam?"  "Oh,"  said  the  lad, 
"I  did  n't  know  foreigners  counted." 

Mr.  Crocker,  one  of  your  directors,  kindly 
called  on  me  to  say  a  few  words  to-day.  When 
Joseph  Choate  was  your  Ambassador  to  the 
Court  of  St.  James  the  leading  members  of  the 
Bar  in  London  thought  to  pay  him  the  honor 
of  calling  him  to  the  Bar  of  The  Inner  Temple. 
Mr.  Choate,  in  accepting  it,  said  he  would  tell 


[72] 

them  the  story  of  an  Irish  Baronet,  who,  having 
become  somewhat  reduced  in  circumstances, 
sent  his  only  son,  Michael,  to  London  to  take 
up  the  profession  of  law  so  as  to  redeem  the 
family  fortunes.  Michael  studied  hard,  passed 
his  "exams"  and  was  finally  called  to  the  Bar. 
The  Irish  peasantry  near  the  old  home  heard 
that  Michael  was  doing  well  in  London  and  they 
thought  it  would  be  the  proper  thing  to  call  on 
the  old  gentleman  and  tender  their  congratula- 
tions coupled  with  wishes  for  the  dear  old  man's 
long  life  in  their  midst.  Having  proceeded  in  a 
body  to  the  Hall  the  old  Baronet  thanked  them 
for  Michael  and  himself  and  confidentially  told 
them  that  Michael  had  recently  been  called  to 
the  Bar.  One  Irishman  said  to  another  who 
was  standing  in  the  crowd,  "Pat,  what  thedivil 
is  that  anyway?"  He  replied,  "Hist,  Mike,  I 
don't  know,  but  if  it 's  what  I  think  it  is,  they  '11 
only  have  to  call  Michael  wanst." 

Mr.  President,  I  'm  proud  to  be  called  on  to 
say  a  few  words  in  appreciation  of  Mr.  Holmes' 
service  in  connection  with  the  Plymouth  Cord- 
age Company.  Victor  Hugo  says,  "The  head 
that  does  not  turn  toward  the  horizon  of  the 
past  contains  neither  thought  nor  love."  We 


[73] 

believe  this  and  to-day  we  hold  half  a  century 
in  retrospect. 

In  this  age  of  keen  competition  and  special- 
ization it  is  a  good  man  who  can  do  one  thing 
well.  Mr.  Holmes  has  done  that  one  thing  with 
a  marvellous  degree  of  success.  His  career 
proves  the  truth  of  the  saying  that  "Genius 
consists  in  getting  on  to  your  job."  Mr.  Holmes 
not  only  got  on  to  the  job,  but  stayed  on  through 
the  perplexities  and  changes  of  the  past  fifty 
years. 

One  great  reason  of  Mr.  Holmes'  success  has 
been  his  steadfastness  of  purpose  and  his  ster- 
ling integrity  in  all  business  matters. 

Some  one  has  said  that  the  reason  people  suc- 
ceed in  this  world  who  mind  their  business  is 
because  they  have  so  little  competition.  Mr. 
Holmes  has  never  troubled  about  the  business 
of  others,  but  others  have  been  greatly  troubled 
about  Mr.  Holmes'  business,  but  from  first  to 
last  have  been  unable  to  express  one  word  of 
adverse  criticism. 

Two  or  three  years  ago  we  invited  the  Ply- 
mouth Cordage  Company  to  come  over  into  the 
Promised  Land ;  we  were  able  to  say  as  Moses 
said  to  Aaron,  "Come  with  us  and  we  will  do 


[74] 

thee  good ;  for  the  Lord  hath  spoken  good  con- 
cerning Israel."  The  Plymouth  Cordage  plant 
is  now  one  of  the  features  in  that  part  of  the 
country,  and  when,  Mr.  President,  in  the  year 
1924  your  Company  may  commemorate  its 
one  hundredth  anniversary,  we  are  in  hope  that 
the  Welland  end  of  your  mammoth  business 
will  warrant  your  directors  in  celebrating  the 
event  on  the  banks  of  the  Niagara  River  in 
which  vicinity  your  fine  Canadian  plant  is 
located;  and  we  further  trust  that  Mr.  Gideon 
F.  Holmes  will  as  now  be  at  the  helm  in  the 
affairs  of  this  most  important  and  successful 
enterprise. 

Sometime  ago  a  New  Brunswicker  went  into 
the  Halifax  Hotel,  in  Halifax,  and,  after  sizing 
up  the  audience  in  the  refreshment  room, 
stated  that  he  could  lick  any  man  in  the  room. 
Meeting  with  no  response  he  was  still  more 
encouraged  and  boldly  stated  that  he  could  lick 
any  man  in  the  city  of  Halifax.  Not  being  taken 
up  even  on  this  wholesale  challenge  he  went  still 
further  and  claimed  he  could  lick  any  man  in 
the  whole  blooming  Province  of  Nova  Scotia. 
An  old  timer  from  Antigonish  walked  over  and 
landed  him  a  couple  which  put  him  out  of  busi- 


8 


[75] 

ness  for  a  few  minutes.  As  he  was  being  helped 
up  some  one  inquired  what  the  trouble  was,  and 
the  New  Brunswicker  replied  that  he  covered 
too  darn  much  territory.  Not  so  the  Plymouth 
Cordage  Company,  for  while  they  have  covered 
the  territory  the  other  chaps,  who  do  the  boast- 
ing, get  the  knockout  blow. 

When  we  think  of  the  Plymouth  Cordage 
Company  fifty  years  ago,  and  then  consider  the 
splendid  position  that  it  occupies  to-day  in  the 
industrial  world,  it  recalls  those  lines  of  Lord 
Tennyson's : 

"  Yet  I  doubt  not  through  tJie  ages 
One  increasing  purpose  runs, 
And  the  minds  of  men  are  broadened 
With  the  process  of  the  Suns" 

Throughout  Canada  Plymouth  twines  have 
a  status  equalled  by  none.  It  recalls  the  ex- 
perience of  the  Englishman  who  struck  a  coun- 
try tavern  in  the  Canadian  northwest  where  the 
good  wife  did  the  cooking  and  the  "Boss" 
waited  on  table.  The  "Boss"  asked  the  Eng- 
lishman if  he  would  take  "Soup."  He  replied, 
"Beg  your  pardon."  "Do  you  want  any  soup  ?" 
inquired  the  landlord.  "What  kind  of  soup?" 


[76] 

was  the  reply.  "Darn  good  soup,"  said  the 
landlord  with  emphasis  on  the  "Darn."  So 
with  Plymouth  twine.  When  a  man  says, 
"What  kind  of  twine?"  "Plymouth  twine," 
is  all  need  be  said. 

Mr.  Holmes  has  evinced  a  marvellous  appe- 
tite for  business,  an  appetite  that  reminds  one  of 
the  cowboy  who  had  to  make  a  long  trip  across 
country  and  called  at  a  settler's  house  for 
dinner.  Approaching  the  table  the  hungry  man 
seized  knife  and  fork  and  was  setting  to,  when 
the  host  said,  "Excuse  me,  we  always  say 
Grace."  "Oh,  all  right,  boss,"  replied  the 
hungry  man,  "nothing  you  can  say  will  affect 
my  appetite."  So  with  you,  Mr.  Holmes,  no 
matter  what  is  said,  nothing  affects  your  appe- 
tite for  trade. 

When  we  consider  the  growth  and  the  brilliant 
success  of  this  Company  and  that  its  position 
to-day  is  largely  due  to  Mr.  Gideon  F.  Holmes, 
we  can  most  appropriately  apply  that  beautiful 
phrase  of  Sir  Walter  Scott's:  "To  accomplish 
such  results  is  worth  having  lived  for." 

Good  things  will  go  when  captained  by  live 
men  with  character  and  personal  force. 

Mr.  President,  speaking  as  one  of  the  staff  of 


[77] 

the  Plymouth  Cordage  Company,  in  conclusion, 
let  me  quote  the  words  of  Emerson : 

"He  that  gives  us  better  homes,  better  books, 
better  tools,  a  brighter  outlook  and  a  wider  hope, 
him  will  we  crown  with  laurel."  (Applause.) 


ADDRESS  OF  THE 
HON.  WILLIAM  M.  GERMAN,  M.P. 


PRESIDENT  LORING  said: 

The  British  flag  had  only  ceased  to  float  at  Plymouth  for  less 
than  thirty  years  when  this  Company  was  founded.  Some  New 
Englanders  who  did  not  sympathize  with  the  Revolution,  but  re- 
mained loyal  to  their  King,  left  their  homes  and  settled  in  Canada. 
A  colony  of  such,  from  Connecticut,  settled  at  Wetland,  Ontario., 
and  founded  the  town  where  the  Union  Jack  floats  over  the  newest 
plant  of  the  Plymouth  Cordage  Company. 

We  have  with  us  to-day  a  citizen  of  Wettand,  a  distinguished 
member  of  Parliament  from  Canada,  and  he  will  tell  us  what 
they  think  of  Mr.  Holmes  in  Ontario.  I  present  the  Honorable 
William  M.  German,  M.P. 


ADDRESS  OF  THE 
HON.   WILLIAM  M.   GERMAN,   M.  P. 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  MR.  HOLMES,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

TO  simply  say  that  I  am  pleased  to  be 
present  at  this  banquet  to-day  in  honor 
of  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  Mr.  Holmes' 
connection  with  the  Plymouth  Cordage  Com- 
pany is  but  poorly  expressing  the  feeling  of 
pleasure  which  I  have.  Outside  of  my  desire 
to  join  in  celebrating  this  anniversary,  I  was 
pleased  to  have  an  opportunity  of  visiting  this 
beautiful  old  town  of  Plymouth,  which  over 
two  hundred  years  ago  saw  the  dawn  of  settle- 
ment, expansion,  and  enterprise  in  this  great 
country.  I  was  also  anxious  to  see  the  works 
of  the  Plymouth  Cordage  Company  which  have 
been  so  long  established  in  this  place,  and  I  can 
assure  you,  Mr.  President,  that  they  far  exceed 
the  expectation  which  I  had  formed  regarding 
them,  and  the  success  of  this  great  enterprise  is, 
as  I  am  pleased  to  know,  very  considerably  due 
to  the  energy,  intelligence,  and  careful  foresight 
of  your  worthy  Treasurer.  It  could  hardly  be 


[82] 

possible,  sir,  that  your  Treasurer,  springing 
from  the  stock  that  he  did,  could  be  other  than 
an  energetic,  determined,  and  far-seeing  man. 
Two  hundred  and  eighty-nine  years  ago  a  little 
wind-tossed  craft  of  a  few  hundred  tons'  burden, 
freighted  with  human  souls,  landed  on  these 
shores.  We,  at  this  day,  stand  almost  appalled 
at  the  idea  of  people  crossing  the  great  Atlantic 
ocean,  leaving  the  home  of  their  forefathers  and 
their  childhood,  in  a  ship  no  larger  than  the 
little  "Mayflower"  and  seeking  out  homes  in 
this  new  country,  which  was  then  a  vast,  mighty 
wilderness,  and  the  courage  and  determination 
which  actuated  these  people  has  been  the  cour- 
age and  determination  which  has  opened  up, 
developed,  and  made  this  great  country  of  the 
United  States.  The  fact  that  your  Treasurer, 
Mr.  President,  is  a  lineal  descendant  of  these 
hardy  pioneers  is  a  guarantee  of  the  stability  of 
his  character  and  his  far-seeing  business  ability. 
I  have  been  very  pleased  indeed,  sir,  to  listen  to 
the  remarks  of  my  good  friend  and  fellow 
countryman,  Mr.  Hobbs,  and  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that  your  Company  turns  out  something 
more  real  than  cordage.  I  have  known  Mr. 
Hobbs  for  some  thirty  years,  sat  with  him  in  the 


[83] 

Ontario  Legislature  for  several  years,  and  dur- 
ing all  this  time  I  have  never  known  him  to 
make  a  speech  such  as  he  has  made  to-day,  and 
I  am  inclined  to  think  that  it  really  must  be  by 
reason  of  his  close  and  intimate  business  con- 
nection with  your  Company,  and  I  cannot  but 
think  that  his  connection  with  you  has  devel- 
oped in  him  the  great  oratorical  powers  which 
he  has  displayed  to-day ;  and  I  am  also  pleased, 
sir,  to  feel  that  I  am  also,  though  in  a  small  way, 
connected  with  the  interests  of  your  Company, 
and  was  to  some  small  extent  instrumental  in 
inducing  you  to  establish  your  works  in  Canada. 
It  has  been  said  by  Honorable  Mr.  Hobbs  that 
when  you  first  went  to  Welland  to  view  the  land 
you  had  the  ladies  with  you.  My  only  regret  is 
that  the  ladies  have  not  seen  fit  as  yet  to  repeat 
their  visit.  Possibly  they  were  frightened  by  the 
very  sticky  mud  which  they  encountered  at  that 
time,  but  I  can  assure  these  ladies  that  if  they 
will  come  again  on  my  invitation  they  will  find 
a  much  more  congenial  climate  and  pleasant 
going  than  they  encountered  when  first  there. 
We  cannot  of  course,  sir,  expect  that  your  works 
at  Welland  will,  for  some  years  to  come,  equal 
the  enormous  plant  which  you  have  here,  but  I 


[84] 

can  assure  you  that  so  far  as  aiding  your  Cana- 
dian enterprise  is  concerned  you  will  receive 
every  possible  concession  and  assistance  from 
our  Government  as  you  can  in  fairness  expect, 
and  as  liberal  treatment  as  the  Government  can 
give  consistent  with  the  general  welfare  of  our 
people,  and  I  can  only,  sir,  express  the  hope 
that  within  a  few  years  your  works  in  Canada 
will  be  sufficiently  prosperous  to  be  able  to  sur- 
round yourselves  there  with  as  contented,  in- 
telligent, and  fine  appearing  a  body  of  em- 
ployees as  I  see  gathered  together  in  this  room 
to-day.  I  congratulate  you,  sir,  and  your  Com- 
pany, on  the  great  business  success  which  you 
have  achieved,  and  I  sincerely  trust  that  you, 
your  Board  of  Directors,  and  that  you,  Mr. 
Holmes,  may  live  to  enjoy  the  fruits  of  the  suc- 
cess which  you  have  created  and  to  which  you 
are  undoubtedly  entitled.  (Applause.) 


ADDRESS  OF  THE 
REVEREND   W.  W.  DORNAN,  D.D. 


PRESIDENT  LORINQ  said : 

i 

The  really  important  thing  for  all  of  us  is  our  Spiritual  life  and 
those  eternal  considerations  of  right  and  justice  which  regulate  all 
our  acts,  not  only  on  Sundays,  but  on  every  day. 

We  have  with  us  to-day  a  man  who  has  given  up  his  life  to 
teaching  God's  word  and  the  truth  as  he  sees  it,  and  in  whose 
church  Mr.  Holmes  sits  as  a  listener.  I  introduce  to  you  the  Rev- 
erend W.  W.  Dornan  of  Plymouth. 


ADDRESS  OF  THE 
REVEREND  W.  W.   DORNAN,  D.D. 

MR.  PRESIDENT: 

I  APPRECIATE  the  honor  extended  to  me 
on  this  occasion  by  your  committee,  that  I 
have  the  opportunity  of  speaking  a  word 
of  appreciation  regarding  the  services  and  char- 
acteristics of  the  one  whom  to-day  Plymouth 
delights  to  honor. 

Gentlemen,  I  rise  to  speak  laboring  under  one 
or  two  great  disabilities. 

The  first  came  upon  me  before  this  most 
excellent  dinner  was  served,  and  as  I  thought  of 
the  splendid  achievements  of  the  honored  treas- 
urer of  this  Cordage  Company,  Mr.  Holmes,  in 
lifting  this  plant  to  take  the  place  in  commercial 
importance  and  value,  second  to  none  in  the 
North  American  Continent.  And  as  I  looked 
around  these  tables  upon  the  splendid  type  of 
employees  I  wished  the  opportunity  to  speak 
was  given  then.  I  felt  like  that  scene  on  the 
deck  of  a  transatlantic  steamer  where  a  young 
man  standing  upon  the  deck  with  both  hands  in 


[88] 

his  pockets  and  careening  with  the  vessel  while 
he  filled  his  lungs  with  the  ozone  of  the  great 
deep  said,  "When  I  am  at  sea,  I  can't  contain 
myself."  A  fellow  passenger  leaning  over  the 
rail,  and  with  a  face  ashen  pale  and  a  sickly  ex- 
pression, turned,  and  looking  up,  said,  "My 
friend,  that 's  just  the  way  I  feel  myself."  But 
the  opportunity  to  give  vent  to  my  feelings  had 
not  yet  come  when  I  was  full  for  utterance. 

The  second  disability  came  to  me  when  the 
dinner  was  concluded,  and,  like  a  balloon, 
everything  was  stretched  to  its  utmost  capacity, 
then  was  I  too  full  for  utterance.  In  this  cir- 
cumstance, judging  from  optical  evidence,  I  am 
not  alone.  Like  the  Scotch  minister  who,  com- 
ing home  late  one  night,  met  one  of  his  parish- 
ioners who  was  much  the  worse  of  drink.  Said 
the  minister,  "James,  I  am  afraid  that  the 
whiskey  has  gotten  the  upper  hand  to-night." 
James  replied  rather  confidentially,  "Never 
mind,  minister,  just  keep  quiet  and  say  nothing 
about  it,  nobody  has  seen  you  but  me,  and  I  am 
not  very  sober  myself." 

My  third  disability  happened  when  I  listened 
to  the  goodly  flow  of  oratory  and,  as  the  speak- 
ers glowingly  and  eloquently  spoke  of  the  char- 


NUMBER  3  MILL 

Gas  Producer  House  —  Gas  Engines,  1000  H.P. 
Mill  During  Construction 


[89] 

acteristics  of  our  friend,  Mr.  Holmes,  I  began 
to  see  my  speech  go  piece  by  piece,  and  I  won- 
dered what  they  were  going  to  leave  of  Mr. 
Holmes  for  me.  Two  or  three  times  I  concluded 
that  all  that  would  be  necessary  for  me  to  do 
would  be  to  stand  over  the  remains  and  pro- 
nounce the  benediction.  I  feel  like  the  old 
minister  who  had  exchanged  pulpits  on  a  certain 
Sabbath  and  found  that  the  rats  had  been  in 
the  barrel  of  sacred  tradition  and  chewed  some 
pages  of  his  sermon  manuscript  which  he  had 
not  discovered  until  in  .the  pulpit.  He  very 
frankly  faced  the  audience  and  said,  "I  do  not 
know  my  text,  nor  indeed  my  subject,  several 
pages  are  gone  by  the  rats,  so,  with  your  per- 
mission, I  will  begin  where  the  rats  left 
off." 

Fifty  years  of  service  and  yet  young  is  the  lot 
that  falls  but  to  few  men.  This  is  no  ordinary 
occasion  that  brings  us  together  to  do  honor  to 
one  who  in  twenty-three  years  rose  from  office 
boy  to  the  manager  and  propagator  of  a  great 
concern,  and  who  for  twenty-seven  years  has 
proved  himself  to  be  a  worthy  successor  in  the 
line  of  the  indefatigable  far-seeing  "Bourne 
Spooner." 


[90] 

When  a  man  rises  to  a  great  and  noble  task, 
all  the  great  and  noble  characteristics  of  the 
man  appear.  Struggle  is  the  true  law  of  evolu- 
tion from  the  lower  to  the  higher,  for  too  often 
it  has  been  exemplified  that  starting  at  the  high- 
est there  is  a  descent  to  nothing.  It  makes  little 
difference,  however,  how  a  man  comes  into  the 
world  provided  he  chooses  to  be  a  man. 

One  of  the  ways  to  success  in  life  is  to  be  con- 
tinually fitting  oneself  for  the  larger  opportunity 
that  may  come.  This  Mr.  Holmes  was  always 
doing  from  the  first  day  he  entered  the  office  of 
this  Company  up  to  the  present  hour.  He  was 
not  seeking  to  do  simply  what  he  was  paid  for, 
but  seeking  to  learn  something  that  would  pay 
him  better  by  and  by.  It  was  the  characteristic 
of  industry.  The  honor  that  came  to  Mr. 
Holmes  was  not  in  receiving  the  high  office  of 
treasurer,  but  that  in  receiving  it,  he  has  filled 
it  to  overflowing  with  a  splendid  business  ca- 
pacity. The  man  magnifies  the  office. 

The  second  characteristic  which  I  have  noted 
in  our  honored  friend  is  the  thing  that  I  believe 
has  added  greatly  to  his  years,  —  his  apprecia- 
tion of  the  humorous.  Whenever  an  anti- 
climax comes  to  his  notice,  either  in  men  or 


[91] 

things,  he  can  enjoy  it  to  the  fullest.    It  is  the 
salvation  of  any  man  to  be  able  to  laugh. 

The  third  characteristic,  and  the  last  I  shall 
speak  of,  is  his  honesty.  No  man  that  knows 
Mr.  Holmes  can  for  a  moment  doubt  his  honesty 
and  business  integrity.  There  is  nothing  so 
helps  the  work  of  the  church  of  Christ  in  lifting 
men  like  an  honest  factory.  Honesty  in  a  con- 
cern incorporates  itself  into  the  workmen  em- 
ployed. In  this  regard  I  consider  this  place  by 
its  business  methods  under  the  present  manage- 
ment an  asset  to  righteousness.  At  one  time  a 
rope  was  manufactured  for  a  customer.  It  was 
to  be  pure  Manila  but  in  some  unaccountable 
manner  a  spool  of  Sisal  had  gotten  into  the  rope. 
It  was  discovered  and  reported,  with  the  sugges- 
tion that  it  would  be  well  to  write  the  customer 
regarding  it.  "Very  well,"  said  the  treasurer, 
"  let  it  lie  a  few  days  " ;  at  the  end  of  which  the 
treasurer  sent  word  to  undo  the  rope,  take  the 
Sisal  out,  and  relay  it.  It  must  be  all  Manila. 
Reputation  was  at  stake.  A  letter  would  not 
explain  if  such  a  rope  had  come  into  the  hands 
of  his  competitors.  No,  the  sagacity  and  busi- 
ness integrity  of  the  management  would  not 
allow  it  to  pass,  and  this  high  and  honest  stand- 


[92] 

ard  is  the  thing  that  has  made  the  name  of  the 
Plymouth  Cordage  Company  to  be  depended 
upon  the  world  over. 

Such  has  its  effect  upon  the  moral  life  of  the 
men  employed.  Moral  degeneration  may  be 
cultivated  by  a  dishonest  principle  in  manu- 
facturing. 

We  have  a  striking  case  in  point  in  Scottish 
history.  From  about  the  year  1700  to  1800  the 
manufacture  of  silk  gauzes  and  fine  lawns 
flourished  in  Paisley.  This  business  afforded 
excellent  wages,  sobriety  and  frugality  being 
the  general  character  of  the  Paisley  weaver. 
Nearly  one  half  of  the  town  at  that  period  was 
built  and  owned  by  the  weavers.  Each  had  his 
garden;  many  became  excellent  florists;  some 
had  a  tolerable  library,  and  all  were  politicians. 

About  the  period  of  the  French  revolution 
Mr.  William  Pitt  expressed  more  fear  of  the  un- 
restricted political  discussions  of  the  Paisley 
weaver  than  of  ten  thousand  armed  men. 

Significantly  enough  the  period  of  Paisley's 
decadence  began  with  the  manufacture  of  a 
sham,  an  incentive  to  human  vanity  and  pre- 
tence. The  introduction  of  imitation  Indian 
shawls  paralyzed  finally  that  grand  body  of 


[93] 

people  and  crowded  the  town  with  half-informed 
radicals  and  infidels. 

This,  sir,  is  the  thing  upon  which  I  congratu- 
late you  most.  By  the  honesty  of  your  methods 
in  business,  you  are  teaching  the  manufacturing 
industries  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  if 
not  of  the  world,  that  the  true  foundation  for 
lasting  business  prosperity  is  righteousness  and 
truth.  May  you  live  long  to  magnify  your  place 
along  the  lines  which  you  so  successfully  have 
carried  out  for  half  a  century.  (Applause.) 


A  FIFTY-STRAND  LAY 
BY  MR.  E.  D.  VER  PLANCK 


PRESIDENT  LORINQ  said: 

You  have  heard  in  prose,  and  in  good  prose,  what  our  eminent 
Company  has  to  say  on  this  occasion,  but  it  is  now  my  agreeable 
duty  to  summon  u$,  as  a  last  recourse,  the  poetic  muse  to  crown 
our  banquet.  He  is  something  more  than  a  poet,  an  able  helper 
and  friend  of  Mr.  Holmes.  I  present  Mr.  E.  D.  Ver  Planck. 


A  FIFTY-STRAND  LAY 

E.   D.  VER  PLANCK 

LISTEN,  my  neighbors,  and  you  shall  hear, 
How  "Good  Friend  Holmes"  began  his 

career ; 

'Twas  March  twenty-eight,  in  the  year  fifty- 
nine, 
How  few  of  us  here  can  remember  the  time ! 

He  said  to  his  friends,  "I  cannot  go  more 
With  the  girls  and  the  boys  to  play  on  the  shore ; 
I  go  to  bed  early,  so  early  to  rise, 
For  I  must  be  healthy,  get  wealthy  and  wise. 

"To-morrow  I  take  up  the  fight  of  my  life; 
The  Cordage  mill  wants  me  to  join  in  the  strife, 
And  to  show  them,  as  only  ambitious  boys  can, 
How  to  sweep  out  an  office  on  an  up-to-date 
plan." 

So  he  said  to  his  friends,  "Good-night"  and 

"Sweet  dreams," 
Just  as  the  moon  threw  down  her  bright  beams, 


[98] 

And  lighted  the  waters  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
Where,  in  years  that  are  gone,  the  "Mayflower" 
lay. 

And  he  made  a  resolve,  that  at  home  or  afar 
He  would  never  partake  of  refreshment  from  bar 
But  from  that  now  before  him,  a  form  purified 
By  the  ebb  and  the  flow  of  old  Plymouth's  tide. 

He  lighted  his  candle  and  crept  up  to  bed, 
With  visions  of  power,  and  might  in  his  head. 
Whatever  this  life  held  of  joy,  or  of  sorrow, 
Awaited  his  bow  and  his  plunge  on  the  morrow. 

Next  morning  this  boy,  on  March  twenty-eight, 
Is  brought  back  to  earth,  and  the  problem  of  fate, 
By  the  clatter  of  footsteps,  a  knock  at  the  door, 
A  summons  to  work  at  the  mill  by  the  shore. 

A  hurry  of  feet,  a  form  in  the  dark, 

The  shape  of  a  boy,  pressing  on  for  the  mark. 

That  was  all !    And  yet,  through  the  light  and 

the  gloom, 
A  future  was  then  being  carved  by  a  broom. 

You  know  the  rest !    How  from  broom  to  the  pen 
He  worked  his  way  up  to  a  leader  of  men ; 


SPINNING  AND   ROPE-MAKING  MACHINERY 


[99] 

How  the  company  prospered,  and  mill,  and  then 

mill, 
Was  added,  and  made  to  respond  to  his  will; 

How  National  Cordage  loomed  up  as  a  master, 
To  buy  out  the  works  or  inflict  a  disaster. 
How  the  Plymouth  turned  out  ball  for  ball, 
And  bade  defiance  to  one  and  all; 

How  the  years  of  panic,  and  stress,  and  strain, 
Have  done  their  worst,  but  all  in  vain. 
The  wheels  turn  round,  the  whistle  blows, 
The  sound  from  Plymouth  to  Welland  goes. 

From  Northern  mounts  of  ice  and  snow, 
To  Tropic  sands,  the  Products  go, 
And  like  the  flag,  marking  England's  scope, 
The  Sun  never  sets  on  Plymouth  Rope. 

Ambitions,  yet  jealous  of  honor  and  name, 
Conservative,    weighing    with    heart    and    with 

brain, 
Progressive,  —  and     silent,  —  these     attributes 

made 
The  Leader,  the  Nestor,  the  Sphinx  of  the  trade. 


[100] 

"Good  Friend  Holmes,"  though  silver-crowned, 
Is  physically,  mentally,  heartily,  sound; 
And  to-day  we  celebrate,  all  forgetful  of  strife, 
The  Golden  Wedding  of  his  business  life. 

Best  wishes  are  his,  for  a  future  replete 

With  all  the  good  things  that  makes  life  com- 
plete ; 

The    Directors,    Stockholders,    Employees,    all 
pray 

For  very  many  happy  returns  of  the  day. 

(Applause.) 


"LINES" 
BY  MR.  WILLIS  K.  HEATH 


PRESIDENT  LORING  said: 

After  being  twisted  up  in  Mr.  Ver  Planck's  poem  we  have  got 
all  snarled  up  in  some  other  "lines." 

The  oldest  member  of  our  office  force  and  its  venerated  head  has 
contributed  to  this  occasion  some  "lines"  which  his  voice  will 
not  allow  him  to  read  himself,  but  Mr.  Crocker  will  now  present 
an  original  poem  by  Mr.  Willis  K.  Heath. 


"LINES" 

WILLIS  K.  HEATH 

VACATIONS  —  they  are  not  for  him 
About  one  year  in  ten 
He  takes  a  few  weeks  off,  but  vows 
He  will  not  go  again. 

"I  get  more  rest  and  have  more  fun," 

We  Ve  often  heard  him  say, 
"By  sailing  down  off  Manomet 

And  fishing  half  a  day." 

Nor  does  he  always  go  alone; 

He  likes  well  to  divide 
The  pleasure  with  his  friends  around 

As  partners  of  the  tide. 

There  's  one  old  friend  who  joins  him  oft  — 

A  fisherman  is  he  — 
His  name  I  will  not  here  divulge, 

But  it  begins  with  T. 


[104] 

T's  fish  are  of  the  sportive  sort; 

They  die,  but  still  they  grow; 
'T  wixt  here  and  Boston,  I  have  heard, 

They  double  up  or  so. 

Not  so  with  Mr.  Holmes's  fish; 

They  're  the  old-fashioned  kind, 
Weigh  sixteen  ounces  to  the  pound, 

And  often  hard  to  find. 

Cod,  haddock,  smelt,  and  mackerel  — 

They  all  come  in  to  him  — 
He 's  apt  to  fill  his  canvas  bag 

Up  to  its  very  brim. 

The  query  comes :  Why  this  success  ? 

Why  such  a  catch  of  fish  ? 
You  want  to  know  the  reason,  friends, 

I  '11  gratify  your  wish. 

He  catches  fish,  a  lot  of  them, 
And  sells  our  rope  and  twine, 

Because  he  learned  long,  long  ago 
Just  where  to  drop  a  line. 

(Applause.) 


COMMITTEES 


COMMITTEES 

ARRANGEMENTS 

AUGUSTUS  P.  LORING,  Chairman  EDWARD  K.  HARRIS 

SCHUYLER  S.  BARTLETT  FRANCIS  C.  HOLMES 

ROBERT  A.  BROWN  W.  E.  C.  NAZRO 

WALTER  H.  BROWN  WILLIAM  L.  PUTNAM 

B.  PRESTON  CLARK  THOMAS  S.  HOBBS 

GEORGE  G.  CROCKER  EDMOND  J.  LINDSAY 

JOHN  H.  DAMON  HENRY  F.  STODDARD 

INVITATIONS 

B.  PRESTON  CLARK,  Chairman  FRANCIS  C.  HOLMES 

T.  ALLEN  BAGNELL  CHARLES  W.  LEACH 

EDWARD  B.  BAYLEY  HARVEY  A.  SOULE 

WILLIS  K.  HEATH  AHIRA  B.  KELLEY 

SEATING 

SCHUYLER  S.  BARTLETT,  CHARLES  J.  STEGMAIER 

Chairman        HENRY  L.  STEGMAIEB 
JOHN  A.  BEEVER  THOMAS  SWAN 

RICHARD  B.  BROWN  EDWARD  S.  THAYER 

EDWARD  D.  VER  PLANCK 


[108] 

BUILDING  AND  DECORATIONS 
JOHN  H.  DAMON,  Chairman        WM.  INGLES  GAY 
WALTER  H.  BROWN  W.  E.  C.  NAZRO 

WM.  E.  CHURCHILL  JOHN  E.  WRIGHT 

MUSIC 

JOHN  H.  DAMON,  Chairman         ROBERT  A.  BROWN 
FRANCIS  C.  HOLMES 

TRANSPORTATION 

FRANCIS  C.  HOLMES,  Chairman    GEORGE  G.  CROCKER 
H.  K.  SMITH  (Welland) 

STOCKHOLDERS'   TESTIMONIAL 
WILLIAM  L.  PUTNAM,  Chairman  JAMES  D.  THURBER 
PERCIVAL  LOWELL  HENRY  M.  WILLIAMS 

FRANK  P.  PRIEST 

ADDRESSES  AND  PRINTING 
GEORGE  G.  CROCKER,  Chairman  W.  E.  C.  NAZRO 
CHARLES  S.  DAVIS  CHAS.  S.  RACKEMANN 

AHIRA  B.  KELLEY  ELLERY  STEDMAN 

PRESENTATION 

JAMES  FROTHINGHAM,  Chairman  RICHARD  MCLEAN 
MATHIAS  GROZENGER  EDWARD  P.  NOYES 

JAMES  F.  KENDRICK  PHILIP  SCHAICH 

ALEXANDER  McLEAN  GEORGE  SWAN 


SCENES  AT  THE  BANQUET 


[109] 

USHERS  FOR  THE  BALL 
JOHN  D.  BREWER,  Head  Usher 
DANIEL  G.  BROWN  JULIUS  PECK 

LUTHER  A.  COOK  WILLIAM  S.  PIERCE 

WILLIS  F.  CASH  SIMON  D.  ROBICHAU 

JOHN  L.  KARLE  CHARLES  J.  SANDERSON 

JACOB  H.  DRIES  PHILIP  M.  STEGMAIER 

HORATIO  S.  EVERSON  NICHOLAS  STEPHAN 

GEORGE  W.  GRIFFIN  HARRY  H.  SAMPSON 

ELMER  E.  HARLOW  COLOMBO  J.  TASSINARI 

AXEL  E.  T.  HULTENIUS  GEORGE  S.  THOM 

ADAM  PECK  CHANNING  H.  WINSOR 

DANCING  AND  RECEPTION 

HENRY  W.  BARNES,  Chairman     CAPT.  CHAS.  C.  DOTEN 
JOHN  ARMSTRONG  CHARLES  J.  GRANDI 

CHARLES  B.  BEYTES  DANIEL  A.  JOHNSON 

JOHN  D.  BREWER  LEWIS  MORTON 

THOMAS  F.  CAVANAUGH  WM.  W.  MYRICK 

A.  LESLIE  CHRISTIE  JAMES  SPOONER 

JOHN  A.  SKAKLE 

USHERS  AND  GUIDES 

ROBERT  A.  BROWN,  Chairman      WM.  H.  COBB 
JOHN  D.  BREWER  WM.  B.  CAMERON 

JOHN  A.  SKAKLE  FRANK  P.  DANIELS 

WM.  W.  BREWSTER,  2d  WM.  C.  ELDRIDGE 


[110] 

USHERS  AND  GUIDES  — continued 

DAVID  EDGAR  THOMAS  SWAN 

JESSE  L.  GOULD  CHARLES  J.  STEGMAIER 

FRANCIS  C.  HOLMES  HARVEY  A.  SOULE 

DANIEL  J.  McLEAN  T.  ALLEN  BAGNELL 

GEORGE  L.  PHILLIPS  AHIRA  B.  KELLEY 

ROBERT  THOM  MILO  C.  DODGE 

HENRY  L.  STEGMAIER  DANIEL  M.  BOSWORTH 

RICHARD  B.  BROWN  ALFRED  L.  BARNES 

JOHN  A.  BEEVER  FRANK  C.  KELLEY 

Miss  BESS  L.  ALLEN  Miss  AVA  W.  PHINNEY 

Miss  ANNIE  M.  C.  ANDERSON  Miss  MABEL  F.  READ 
Miss  SUSAN  M.  BARROWS         Miss  MARION  W.  BEYTES 
Miss  MASEL  H.  BEYTES  Miss  MAUD  B.  COLCORD 

Miss  BESSIE  W.  DAVIS  Miss  MARY  E.  GODDARD 

Miss  MARY  L.  DUNBAR          Miss  FLORENCE  HOLBROOK 
MRS.  GEORGE  GOULD  Miss  BESSIE  R.  HOLMES 

Miss  HELEN  C.  HATHAWAY      MRS.  MARY  E.  MOORE 
Miss  ALICE  E.  HIGGINS  Miss  ELLA  M.  URQUHART 

Miss  ELIZABETH  P.  HOLMES    Miss  ALLENA  E.  WARD 
Miss  ROSE  W.  ROWLAND        Miss  HARRIET  S.  WARREN 
Miss  CHRISTINE  K.  RUDOLPH 


SKETCH  OF  THE 

LIFE    OF   GIDEON  FRANCIS   HOLMES 
1843  TO   1909 


Presented  by  PRESIDENT  LORINQ  of  the  Plymouth  Cordage 
Company  at  the  Celebration  of  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  Mr. 
Holmes'  connection  with  the  Company,  March  %7,  1909- 


PORTRAIT  OF  GIDEON   F.  HOLMES 
(Reproduced  from  Oil  Painting  by  Gaugengigl) 


GIDEON  FRANCIS  HOLMES 

GIDEON  FRANCIS  HOLMES  was 
born  December  21,  1843,  in  the  old 
gambrel  roofed  house  just  back  of 
where  Mr.  McLean  lives,  about  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  southeast  of  the  Cordage  Works.  He  was 
the  ninth  child  in  a  family  of  thirteen.  His 
father  was  David  C.  Holmes  and  his  mother 
Louisa  Savery,  both  of  old  Puritan  stock.  In 
the  direct  male  line  Gideon  was  descended  in 
the  seventh  generation  from  John  Holmes,  origin 
unknown,  who  was  living  in  Plymouth  in  1632, 
and  in  1634  was  messenger  of  the  General  Court. 
In  the  eighth  generation  he  is  descended  from 
Richard  Warren,  merchant,  who  came  over  in 
the  "Mayflower"  in  1620,  and  Elizabeth  Jouatt 
Marsh  who  came  in  the  "Ann"  in  1623.  Rich- 
ard's brother  John  came  to  Salem  with  Winthrop 
in  the  "Arbella"  in  1630  —  and  the  family  ap- 
pears to  have  been  of  some  consequence  in 
England.  Gideon  is  also  descended  in  the  sev- 
enth generation  from  Edward  Doten  or  Doty 


[114] 

who  came  in  the  "Mayflower"  in  1620,  and 
Faith  Clark  who  came  in  the  "Francis"  in  1634. 
Also  in  the  eighth  generation  from  Francis 
Cooke,  who  came  in  the  "Mayflower,"  and 
Esther  who  came  in  the  "Ann." 

Gideon's  father,  David;  worked  for  the  Ply- 
mouth Cordage  Company  hackling  hemp,  and 
with  the  aid  of  his  children,  conducted  the  farm 
on  which  he  lived.  Even  after  his  retirement 
from  active  duties  he  was  for  years  called  upon 
to  superintend  the  Company's  annual  stock 
taking.  Before  his  marriage  he  had  gone  to 
sea  with  his  father,  who  was  a  sea  captain, 
fishing  on  the  Grand  Banks  in  summer,  and 
in  winter  trading  to  the  southern  ports  of  the 
United  States  and  West  Indies,  bringing  back 
in  the  spring  a  cargo  of  tobacco,  molasses,  and 
West  India  goods. 

It  does  not  require  a  violent  stretch  of  the 
imagination  to  say  that  Gideon  inherited  his 
aptitude  for  trade,  and  his  fondness  for  the  sea 
and  fishing. 

Gideon's  father  was  a  church  member,  and  a 
Puritan  to  the  backbone.  He  kept  a  horse  and 
wagon  which  he  occasionally  let  to  his  neigh- 
bors; but  the  team  never  was  let  on  Sundays, 


[115] 

except  for  a  funeral  or  in  case  of  sickness,  and 
then  he  would  take  no  pay  for  its  use.  The 
horse  had,  however,  the  regular  Sabbath  duty 
of  taking  to  church  as  many  of  the  family  as 
the  carriage  would  accommodate.  There  was 
no  rambling  through  the  woods  or  orchards 
on  Sunday,  and  as  they  lived  quite  a  dis- 
tance from  the  church,  the  family  spent  the 
morning  in  meditation  at  home,  attending 
divine  service  and  Sunday  School  in  the  after- 
noon. David  Holmes  was  a  strict  disciplina- 
rian. A  bow  and  arrow  made  on  Sunday  and 
discovered  in  the  hands  of  one  of  the  children 
on  Monday  was  promptly  thrown  in  the  fire. 
He  was  a  man  of  some  education  and  taught 
an  evening  school  promoted  by  the  Cordage 
Company. 

Some  of  the  conditions  of  country  life  half 
a  century  ago  might  be  almost  considered  hard- 
ships to-day,  but  the  simple  fare  and  less  luxu- 
rious surroundings  of  Mr.  Holmes'  boyhood, 
even  the  attic  chamber  with  its  occasional  drift 
of  snow  of  a  winter's  morning,  are  looked  back 
upon  with  a  sense  of  pleasure  as  great  as  any 
which  more  modern  conditions  afford  to  the 
children  of  to-day.  The  generous  slice  of  bread 


[116] 

and  molasses  was  just  as  appetizing  as  it  is  to 
the  farmer  boy  of  the  present. 

The  problem  of  supplying  the  family  larder 
was  much  simpler  then  than  to-day.  In  the 
Holmes  family,  the  orchard,  the  garden,  and 
the  henyard,  as  well  as  the  reliable  family  cow, 
furnished  each  its  contribution. 

Two  or  three  pigs  were  killed  and  salted 
down  each  fall,  a  beef  was  purchased  from  the 
drove,  which  in  those  days  was  driven  in  the 
autumn  from  the  summer  pastures  in  the  hills 
of  New  Hampshire  down  through  the  villages 
of  the  Cape,  until  all  the  beasts  were  sold. 

A  kentle  of  salt  cod,  and  a  barrel  of  salt 
halibut  fins  and  napes,  delicious  when  soaked 
out  and  fried  with  salt  pork,  were  usually  pur- 
chased in  the  fall.  In  the  spring,  herring  were 
easily  caught  in  the  neighboring  brooks  and 
eaten  fresh,  or  salted,  dried,  and  packed  in 
wood  ashes  for  later  use.  The  neighboring  bay 
and  its  shores  yielded  lobsters  and  clams  with- 
out stint. 

Even  when  quite  a  child  Gideon  got  up  at 
five  o'clock  in  the  morning  and  worked  in  the 
field  or  garden  until  school  at  nine,  and  again 
in  the  evening  helped  with  the  chores.  When 


[117] 

about  twelve  years  old  he  began  to  drive  a  coal 
wagon  on  Saturdays  and  holidays.  Though 
not  strong  enough  to  carry  in  the  coal,  he 
shoveled  it,  and  filled  the  baskets.  His  most 
lively  recollection  of  this  work,  however,  re- 
lates to  the  exciting  races  he  sometimes  brought 
about  between  his  team  and  the  one  driven  by 
his  father. 

When  he  was  five,  he  nearly  ended  his  career 
by  falling  into  a  pool  in  the  clay  pit,  at  the 
westerly  end  of  the  present  mill  No.  2,  and  was 
only  rescued  by  one  of  the  brick  workers  as  he 
went  down  for  the  third  time.  When  Gideon 
reached  home  on  this  occasion,  his  mother 
asking  where  he  had  been,  he  calmly  replied, 
"been  in  a  whimming."  His  mother,  having 
perceived  his  bedraggled  appearance,  accepted 
his  explanation,  but  thought  he  had  been  un- 
fortunate in  the  choice  of  a  bathing  place.  She 
proceeded  to  disrobe  him  and  administer  the 
scrubbing  which  his  close  contact  with  the 
sticky  clay  made  necessary. 

The  boys  were  accustomed  to  add  to  their 
pocket  money  by  picking  berries  or  doing  odd 
bits  of  work  for  the  neighbors.  When  Gideon 
was  eight,  he  and  two  of  his  brothers  cut,  split, 


[118] 

and  put  in  twenty  cords  of  wood  for  two  of  the 
neighbors. 

Gideon's  pay  when  he  first  went  to  work  for 
the  Cordage  Company  was  three  dollars  a  week, 
which  was  drawn  by  his  father,  who  continued 
to  draw  his  pay  until  he  was  nineteen  years  old. 
Although  the  company  made  him  an  extra  al- 
lowance for  shutting  the  windows  of  the  rope- 
walk  after  hours,  which  he  kept  for  himself,  he 
did  not  have  much  chance  to  get  ahead. 

When  about  five  years  old  he  was  desperately 
sick  with  scarlet  fever,  and  as  a  youth  he  was 
not  strong  and  suffered  a  good  deal  from  head- 
aches, and  was  considered  too  delicate  to  take 
up  a  trade  as  his  brothers  did,  when  they  were 
old  enough  to  be  bound  out  as  apprentices.  It 
was  generally  considered  that  he  did  not  have 
as  good  a  chance  as  they  had,  when  he  went 
into  the  Cordage  Company's  office;  but  not 
every  one  was  of  the  same  opinion.  George 
Adams,  of  Kingston,  who,  with  his  brother 
Fred  carried  on  the  slaughtering  business,  was 
considered  a  very  shrewd  man.  It  was  said 
of  him  that  he  would  start  in  the  morning  with 
a  quarter  of  beef  in  his  wagon,  and  return  at 
night  with  a  mortgage  on  some  one's  farm.  He 


[119] 

took  a  different  view  of  the  matter  from  most 
people,  and  stopping  his  wagon  in  the  road  to 
chat  with  David  Holmes  in  the  autumn  after 
Gideon  went  to  work,  said  he  thought  that  on 
the  whole  Gideon  had  the  best  chance  of  the 
lot.  The  opportunity  was  not  so  wonderful, 
as  the  will  and  ability  to  seize  it,  and  work  out 
a  remarkable  career. 

Gideon  entered  the  service  of  the  company  on 
March  28,  1859,  being  then  a  handsome  but 
not  very  large  boy  of  fifteen.  He  had  attended 
the  high  school  for  a  year  but  had  not  com- 
pleted his  course.  He  was  a  good  scholar  and 
understood  what  he  had  been  taught.  His  first 
duty  was  to  sweep  out  the  office  and  do  the 
errands  around  the  works.  James  Frothing- 
ham,  who  is  still  on  the  company's  pay  roll,  was 
his  first  boss,  and  instructed  him  in  his  duties. 
It  was  also  his  business  to  help  Mr.  Damon  in 
getting  the  rope  to  the  scales,  and  in  tagging 
it  when  weighed.  On  one  occasion,  having 
undertaken  to  weigh  some  rope,  he  was  re- 
proved for  his  presumption  in  assuming  a  duty 
he  was  not  competent  to  perform.  When  not 
otherwise  occupied  he  prepared  the  strings  for 
the  tags  by  cutting  across  a  bobbin  of  "tally 


[120] 

yarn,"  which  divided  the  string  wound  on  it  into 
convenient  lengths. 

The  office  force  consisted  of  Bourne  Spooner, 
treasurer  and  general  manager;  Amasa  Bart- 
lett,  bookkeeper;  C.  S.  Damon,  invoice  and 
shipping  clerk  and  traveling  man;  and  young 
Holmes,  the  office  boy. 

Business  was  not  very  active  that  year,  and 
young  Holmes,  who  never  wasted  his  time  or 
opportunities,  was  out  in  the  rope  walk  and 
mill  a  good  deal,  helping  here  and  there,  and 
picking  up  knowledge  and  experience.  This 
annoyed  one  of  the  overseers,  and  he  com- 
plained to  Mr.  Spooner;  but  the  other  one  took 
the  pains  to  come  into  the  office  and  say  that 
Gideon  was  always  welcome,  and  never  in  the 
way  in  his  mill.  Indeed,  from  the  first  day 
that  he  entered  the  office  there  was  never  a  time 
when  young  Holmes  was  not  ready,  willing,  and 
anxious  to  help  any  one,  no  matter  what  his  job 
might  be;  and  this  trait  was  soon  recognized 
and  taken  advantage  of,  so  that  he  had  plenty 
to  do. 

In  1862  he  became  invoice  clerk  and  took 
charge  of  the  shipping.  A  little  later,  Mr. 
Damon  having  penetrated  to  the  West  and 


EARLY  PORTRAITS  OF  MR.  HOLMES- 
MR.  HOLMES'  BIRTHPLACE 


[121] 

brought  back  a  great  many  orders  for  small 
rope,  the  capacity  of  the  ropewalk  was  stretched 
to  its  utmost  in  making  the  many  different  sizes, 
which  brought  additional  work  on  Holmes.  In 
1866  one  of  the  mills  was  burned,  and  Mr. 
Bartlett  falling  sick  while  it  was  being  rebuilt, 
it  naturally  fell  to  Mr.  Holmes  to  make  up  the 
pay  roll  and  pay  off  the  masons,  although  his 
ability  to  do  so  was  seriously  doubted. 

In  1867,  Mr.  Bartlett  having  died,  young 
Holmes  took  full  charge  of  the  books,  and  at  the 
annual  stock-taking,  crawled  over  the  bales  of 
hemp  in  the  storehouses  and  counted  them. 
This  was  anything  but  light  and  easy  work  in 
the  stifling  heat  of  a  July  day,  when  the  tempera- 
ture under  the  low  roof  frequently  ran  above 
one  hundred;  and  he  often  reached  home  long 
after  hours,  soaked  with  perspiration  and  pale 
with  fatigue ;  but  the  story  was  still  the  same,  he 
was  doing  his  own  work,  and  helping  every  one 
else  with  theirs.  How  many  things  he  did,  and 
how  much  he  accomplished  was  not  appreciated 
until  he  came  down  with  typhoid  fever  in  1870. 
Then  the  books  and  office  work  fell  behind,  and 
an  expert  accountant  came  down  from  Boston 
to  straighten  them  out.  He  was  unable  to  cope 


with  the  work,  and  Mr.  Holmes  was  called  back 
to  the  office  before  he  had  fairly  convalesced, 
and  long  before  he  could  prudently  resume 
work. 

His  duties  were  so  manifold  that  it  added 
enormously  to  his  work.  An  employee  coming 
into  the  office  to  buy  a  postage  stamp  or  ask  a 
question  would  interrupt  the  casting  of  an  ac- 
count or  addition  of  a  long  column  of  figures. 
Besides  keeping  the  books  he  wrote  letters, 
bought  supplies,  billed  the  customers,  and  kept 
the  office.  Mr.  Spooner  never  could  abide  a 
pencil,  and  standing  in  the  door  of  the  rope- 
walk  shipping  out  goods  on  a  cold  day,  Holmes 
had  to  breathe  on  his  pen  to  melt  the  ink  be- 
tween every  few  words  he  wrote,  and  sometimes 
the  ink  froze  before  the  pen  reached  the  paper. 
His  wife  crocheted  gloves  without  ends  to  the 
fingers,  that  his  hands  might  not  get  too  numb 
to  hold  his  pen.  And  for  all  this  he  was  paid  at 
the  rate  of  fourteen  hundred  dollars  a  year. 

The  question  never  seemed  to  occur  to  Mr. 
Holmes,  but  Mrs.  Holmes  with  wifely  solici- 
tude sometimes  wondered  if  all  his  varied  ser- 
vices were  fully  appreciated.  Meeting  Mr. 
Spooner  one  day  in  the  road  near  his  house  she 


[123] 

asked  him  what  her  husband's  position  really 
was.  It  seems  the  census  taker  had  asked  her 
the  same  question  the  day  before  and  she  had 
told  him  that  Mr.  Holmes  had  entered  the 
Company's  employ  when  a  boy  and  no  one 
had  thought  to  dignify  his  position  with  a 
name.  Mr.  Spooner  stopped,  looked  bewil- 
dered, then  told  a  story  about  "Jim  and 
John,"  turned  and  went  thoughtfully  into  the 
house. 

In  the  early  days,  while  Gideon  was  still  a 
boy  living  at  home,  he  helped  on  the  farm  in 
spite  of  his  long  hours  at  the  mill.  Work  began 
in  the  mill  in  the  summer  at  five  o'clock,  there 
being  a  recess  for  breakfast  from  seven  to  seven 
forty-five,  and  the  boy  was  often  so  faint  on  his 
way  to  breakfast,  that  he  dreaded  climbing  the 
short  but  sharp  rise  of  land  that  led  to  his 
father's  door.  His  mother  died  when  he  was 
only  eleven  years  old,  and  his  father  married 
again  before  Gideon  went  to  work  for  the  com- 
pany. The  brother  nearest  his  own  age  having 
gone  away  Gideon  was  left  without  a  home 
chum,  and  began  to  have  a  young  man's  crav- 
ing for  a  home  of  his  own.  So  on  Aug.  14,  1866, 
he  was  married  to  Helen  A.  Drew.  Mrs. 


[124] 

Holmes  was  a  daughter  of  Abbott  Drew,  a  ship 
carpenter  by  trade,  but  at  that  time  and  for 
many  years  superintendent  of  Water  Works  for 
the  town  of  Plymouth.  To  celebrate  the  occa- 
sion he  asked  for  his  first  vacation  of  two  weeks, 
and  his  request  was  granted,  although  with 
some  hesitation,  and  his  pay  was  continued, 
though  at  first  it  was  proposed  to  stop  it  during 
his  absence. 

The  young  couple  tried  to  find  a  house  near 
the  works,  but  all  those  available  were  too  large, 
and  they  were  too  proud  to  take  a  tenement  of 
two  rooms  which  was  the  only  one  offering,  so 
they  boarded  in  Plymouth  for  nine  months. 
There  was  no  conveyance  to  the  works;  it  was 
a  long  walk  at  all  times,  and  a  hard  walk  in 
winter;  especially  this  winter  of  1866,  which 
was  memorable  for  its  heavy  snows.  On  one 
occasion  the  Plymouth  train  was  stalled  for 
three  days  near  Halifax,  and  yet  Mr.  Holmes 
forced  his  way  home  through  the  driving  storm 
to  relieve  the  anxiety  of  his  young  wife.  When 
he  arrived  his  eyebrows  were  banked  with 
frozen  snow,  while  an  enormous  icicle  covered 
his  chin  and  chest.  Finding  his  way  through 
the  drifting  storm  by  instinct,  as  can  easily  be 


[125] 

supposed,  he  was  in  an  exhausted  condition 
when  he  reached  the  door,  and  could  not  have 
gone  much  farther.  This  was  considered  a  feat 
of  sufficient  importance  to  be  recorded  in  the 
local  paper. 

In  May  of  the  next  year  after  his  marriage, 
Mr.  Holmes  borrowed  the  money  of  the  Cordage 
Company  and  purchased  the  place  on  which  he 
still  lives.  A  very  old  house  then  stood  on  the 
lot,  which  had  been  last  put  in  repair  in  1826, 
and  did  not  retain  many  marks  of  that  distant 
experience.  Still,  it  was  fairly  near  the  works, 
and  it  was  home.  It  was  necessary  to  put  some 
new  shingles  on  one  side  of  the  roof  and  a  bulk- 
head door  over  the  cellar  entrance.  These  im- 
provements, although  made  after  May  first, 
impressed  the  assessors  to  such  a  degree  that 
they  increased  the  valuation.  In  1868  a  daughter 
was  born  and  in  1869  a  son. 

It  was  hard  sledding  to  support  the  family, 
gradually  put  the  house  in  repair  and  furnish  it, 
pay  the  interest  and  something  on  the  principal 
of  the  loan,  and  the  premiums  on  the  two 
thousand  dollars  of  life  insurance  that  Doctor 
Jones  had  wisely  insisted  on  his  carrying;  yet 
he  had  confidence  in  himself  and  in  his  future, 


[126] 

and  dared  to  assume  burdens  which  would 
have  swamped  a  less  capable  and  persistent 
man. 

He  got  up  at  four  o'clock  now,  and  milked 
the  cow  and  worked  on  the  place  before  he  went 
to  the  factory.  There  was  no  drainage  for  the 
house,  and  he  dug  and  built  a  cesspool  and  drain 
with  his  own  hands.  His  wife  remembers  how 
pale  yet  handsome  he  looked  as  he  smiled  up 
from  the  hole  in  which  he  was  digging.  Neither 
of  them  knew  enough  to  take  something  to  eat 
early,  and  his  morning's  work  was  done  on  an 
empty  stomach.  Nor  did  he  do  any  less  work  at 
the  factory.  His  hours  were  longer  than  any- 
one else's,  and  whoever  got  into  trouble  or 
was  in  arrear  on  his  job  came  to  him  for  help 
and  invariably  got  it.  He  was  so  apt  to  be 
late  for  his  meals  that  his  wife  would  stand  in 
the  window,  and  not  put  the  steak,  when  they 
had  one,  or  toast  on  the  fire,  until  she  saw 
him  coming  down  the  road.  He  helped  his 
father,  too;  on  his  way  home  he  would  lend 
a  hand  at  putting  up  the  hay  or  getting  in  a 
belated  crop.  In  fact,  he  gave  himself  in  the 
full  measure  of  strength  to  others,  without 
thought  for  himself. 


A  GROUP  OF  LABOR  DAY  SHOW  PICTURES 


[127] 

He  brought  home  his  weekly  pay  in  large 
sheets  of  currency,  which  he  put  in  the  bottom 
drawer  of  the  bureau,  and  off  which  his  wife 
cut  the  bills  as  she  needed  them  for  the  daily 
expenses.  She  was  a  careful  manager,  a  good 
housekeeper,  and  made  a  happy  home  for  him. 
It  is  true  that  after  her  baby  was  born  she  was 
not  well,  and  she  still  remembers  the  night 
before  Thanksgiving  when  Gideon  came  home 
to  find  her  ailing,  and  the  baby  sick  so  that  she 
was  unable  to  put  it  down.  The  fire  was  nearly 
out  and  there  was  no  supper;  but  Gideon  soon 
had  everything  moving  along  brightly,  and  after 
supper  was  over,  and  the  baby  soothed  and  in 
bed,  he  cleaned  and  prepared  the  turkey  for  the 
next  day's  dinner. 

No  doubt  he  worked  too  hard  and  in  1870  he 
came  down  with  typhoid  fever.  He  tried  to  get 
up  in  the  morning  to  milk  the  cow  but  could 
not  leave  his  bed.  So  Mrs.  Holmes  made  her 
first  trial  at  milking,  under  directions,  and  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  half  the  usual  quantity,  which 
was  not  bad  for  a  beginner.  As  he  had  stuck 
to  his  work  too  long,  so  he  began  it  again  too 
soon,  and  it  is  a  wonder  that  he  came  through 
so  well,  but  his  indomitable  spirit  supported  him. 


[128] 

There  was  a  row  of  ancient  apple  trees  along 
the  wall,  so  old  and  neglected  that  they  bore  no 
fruit.  Mr.  Holmes  employed  the  local  orchard- 
ist  to  prune  these,  and  the  second  year  they 
blossomed  and  bore  promise  of  fruit  on  the  south 
side,  where  they  somewhat  overhung  the  fence. 
Anyone  who  knows  Mr.  Holmes'  fondness  for 
fruit  in  general,  and  for  apples  in  particular,  can 
easily  imagine  the  interest  with  which  he  watched 
their  growth.  Every  evening  he  made  the  cir- 
cuit of  the  apple  trees.  At  last,  when  the  apples 
were  red  and  plump  and  nearly  ready  for  pick- 
ing, a  wagon  full  of  empty  barrels  was  driven 
into  the  pasture,  and  a  man,  assisted  by  two 
boys,  proceeded  to  beat  the  apples  from  the 
trees  with  long  poles,  in  sight  of  Mrs.  Holmes, 
who  was  ill  and  could  not  interfere,  and  drove 
away  before  Mr.  Holmes  came  home  to  dinner. 
He  said  he  was  glad  he  had  not  been  there,  as 
he  was  afraid  he  might  have  said  or  done  some- 
thing he  might  regret.  However,  he  went  to 
the  neighbor,  who  disclaimed  having  directed 
the  raid,  but  said,  nevertheless,  that  the  action 
was  within  his  legal  rights,  as  the  trees  over- 
hung his  pasture.  As  he  was  supposed  to  be  a 
person  learned  in  the  law,  Mr.  Holmes  accepted 


[129] 

his  exposition  of  the  case,  and  swallowed  his 
disappointment.  The  case  was  all  the  harder, 
as  the  pasture  was  used  for  sheep,  and  Mr. 
Holmes  had  been  more  than  attentive  in  return- 
ing to  their  mothers  the  lambs  which  crawled 
through  the  fence.  There  is  no  truer  saying 
than  that  "It  makes  all  the  difference  whose  ox 
is  gored."  Somewhat  later  the  neighbor  was 
subjected  to  similar  treatment  by  one  of  his 
other  neighbors,  sued  him  for  trespass,  and  re- 
covered damages,  distinctly  establisljing  that 
the  law  as  he  had  stated  it  to  Mr.  Holmes  was 
wrong,  and  that  the  apples  had  been  wrongfully 
picked. 

Though  chronologically  out  of  place,  I  men- 
tion here  another  incident  which  illustrates  Mr. 
Holmes'  evenness  of  temper  and  ability  to  see 
the  other  point  of  view.  In  1895  he  went  to 
Nassau  on  a  short  trip.  There  he  heard  a  good 
deal  about  the  vexatious  strictness  of  the  Col- 
lector of  Customs  at  Miami,  and  therefore 
watched  with  some  interest  that  officer  examine 
the  luggage  which  belonged  to  him  and  other 
returning  tourists,  which  he  did  in  a  thorough 
manner.  Later  in  the  day,  meeting  him  at  a 
hotel,  he  accosted  him  and  asked  if  he  was  the 


[130] 

collector,  to  which  question  the  man  answered 
rather  gruffly  that  he  was.  "Well,  then,"  said 
Mr.  Holmes,  "they  talk  about  you  a  good  deal 
in  Nassau,  but  I  want  to  say  that  I  watched  you 
carefully,  and  I  do  not  see  how  the  collector  of 
this  port  could  do  his  duty,  and  do  less  than  you 
did."  The  collector  stood  astonished  for  a 
minute,  then  grasping  his  hand  said,  "Sir,  you 
are  the  only  man  that  ever  spoke  to  me  like  that. 
Anything  that  the  collector  of  the  port  of  Miami 
can  ever  do  for  you  will  be  gladly  done." 

The  next  year  after  the  apple  episode  the 
sheep  were  removed  from  the  neighbor's  pasture 
and  it  came  up  a  sea  of  red  clover.  A  swarm  of 
bees  from  his  father's  place  lit  in  Mr.  Holmes* 
orchard,  and  with  his  father's  consent  he  hived 
them.  In  less  than  two  weeks  they  had  filled 
the  boxes  with  honey  from  the  neighbor's  clover. 
Truly  a  sweet  reprisal  for  the  plundered  apples. 

For  eight  years  the  young  couple  lived  in  the 
old  house,  and  then,  before  it  was  quite  paid  for 
it  got  beyond  repair,  and  although  it  was  like 
parting  from  an  old  friend,  they  tore  it  down 
and  built  the  house  in  which  they  now  live. 

One  of  Mr.  Holmes'  brothers  did  the  car- 
penter work,  another  the  mason  work  and 


[131] 

plastering,  and  a  third  the  plumbing.  There 
was  no  painter  in  the  family.  The  house  was 
not  only  well  built,  but  at  that  time  was  the 
most  modern  and  convenient  house  in  town. 
There  were  many  calls  on  Mr.  Holmes  for  as- 
sistance. He  had  taken  one  of  his  relatives  to 
live  with  him,  and  not  seldom  aided  less  fortu- 
nate members  of  the  family.  Still  he  managed 
to  get  ahead  slowly,  although  it  was  eleven 
years  more  before  the  house  was  fully  furnished. 
Mr.  Holmes  gave  early  evidence  of  his  trad- 
ing instinct.  There  was  a  piece  of  land  lying 
between  the  ropewalk  and  the  sea,  belonging 
to  one  Jackson,  which  Mr.  Spooner  was  anxious 
to  buy;  but  he  had  offended  Jackson,  who 
used  the  land  to  get  seaweed  to  bank  up  his 
house,  by  telling  him  that  the  reason  he  wanted 
the  land  was  so  that  he  should  not  be  going  there 
—  so  negotiations  had  come  to  an  end.  When 
Jackson  wanted  money  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
selling  a  piece  of  land,  and  Holmes  noticed  that 
he  was  around  on  days  when  Mr.  Spooner  was 
not  there,  and  therefore  concluded  that  he  was 
in  need  of  money,  and  took  pains  to  find  out  how 
much  he  needed.  The  amount  was  more  than 
that  lot  was  worth,  but  he  owned  other  lands 


[132] 

which  adjoined  the  land  of  the  company,  so  on 
a  spring  day  of  1872,  when  Mr.  Spooner  was  in 
Boston,  Jackson  dropped  into  the  office,  and 
began  to  talk  about  the  weather  and  farming, 
and  they  soon  began  to  talk  trade.  It  was  Jack- 
son's object  to  get  the  money  he  wanted  for  the 
land  below  the  ropewalk.  It  was  Holmes'  ob- 
ject to  get  all  the  land  he  could,  and  his  money's 
worth ;  after  a  long  trade,  it  ended  in  Jackson's 
getting  the  amount  of  money  he  wanted,  but  the 
company's  getting  three  lots  of  land.  After  he 
had  made  the  bargain,  young  Holmes  had  many 
qualms  for  fear  that  he  had  gone  too  far  in  buy- 
ing three  lots  instead  of  one,  so  Mr.  Spooner's 
warm  approval  on  his  return  from  Boston  came 
as  a  great  relief. 

Mr.  Charles  Spooner  was  not  a  well  man, 
and  on  one  or  two  occasions  when  he  had  been 
absent  the  directors  had  given  others  in  the 
office  authority  to  sign  drafts  and  checks.  In 
March,  1875,  the  same  year  in  which  Mr. 
Holmes  built  his  new  house,  Mr.  Spooner  was 
given  six  months'  leave  of  absence,  and  the 
directors  voted  to  give  "Gideon  F.  Holmes 
power  to  sign  checks,"  and  "to  do  generally 
such  things  as  the  treasurer  and  superintendent 


[133] 

might  do  if  he  were  present."  In  October  of 
the  same  year  the  treasurer  was  given  eight 
months'  leave  of  absence,  and  Mr.  Holmes 
again  acted  for  him  with  full  powers.  He  seems 
to  have  acquitted  himself  well  of  the  responsi- 
bility, and  the  company  paid  its  usual  dividend 
of  twenty  per  cent,  which  was  increased  in  1877 
to  thirty-five  per  cent. 

In  September,  1880,  the  directors  again  put 
Mr.  Holmes  in  full  charge  of  the  company,  and 
on  February  3,  1882,  Mr.  Spooner,  the  treasurer, 
having  informed  the  board  that  he  was  too  sick 
to  perform  the  duties  of  his  office,  it  was  voted 
that  Mr.  Gideon  F.  Holmes  have  full  power 
during  the  sickness  of  the  treasurer  to  perform 
the  duties  of  his  office.  On  Februray  14,  of  the 
same  year,  the  directors  made  an  allowance  to 
Mr.  Holmes  of  one  thousand  dollars  for  past 
services,  and  placed  his  salary  at  four  thousand 
dollars. 

On  March  11,  the  board  passed  resolutions 
on  the  death  of  Mr.  Spooner,  and  appointed 
Mr.  Holmes  to  perform  the  duties  of  treasurer 
until  a  new  one  should  be  elected.  On  Septem- 
ber 12,  1882,  he  was  duly  elected  treasurer  at 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  stockholders,  which 


[134] 

office  he  still  fills.  From  that  day  to  this,  his 
biography  has  been  largely  the  history  of  the 
company,  so  completely  has  he  devoted  himself 
to  its  work. 

The  sales  for  1883,  the  first  year  that  Mr. 
Holmes  had  full  charge,  amounted  to  nearly  ten 
million  five  hundred  thousand  pounds,  nearly 
two  million  pounds  less  than  they  had  been  in 
the  preceding  year;  largely  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  sales  to  the  Samuel  Cupples  Company  of  St. 
Louis  were  very  much  smaller  than  they  had 
been  previously.  For  some  years  before  this, 
these  parties  had  absorbed  about  forty  per  cent 
of  the  company's  output;  but  they  did  this  at 
very  low  prices,  and  insisted  on  large  allowances, 
which  ran  as  high  as  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars  in  a  year.  For  some  time  Mr.  Holmes 
had  felt  that  there  was  little  or  no  profit  in  the 
business  received  from  them,  and  had  often  so 
expressed  himself  to  Mr.  Spooner,  so  on  assum- 
ing management  he  insisted  on  a  fair  profit,  and 
the  Cupples  Company  went  elsewhere  for  their 
goods.  Although  the  sales  in  this  year  were 
less,  the  profits  were  more,  and  in  a  short  time 
other  channels  were  found,  so  the  trade  of  the 
Cupples  Company  was  not  missed. 


[135] 

Mr.  Holmes  was  put  in  charge,  with  consider- 
able hesitation,  by  the  directors,  who  also  con- 
trolled the  stock.  They  well  knew  his  faithful- 
ness, zeal,  and  qualifications  as  a  manufacturer; 
but  they  had  no  idea  of  his  pre-eminent  ability 
as  a  merchant,  and  it  was  on  this  point  that  they 
hesitated.  If  inherited  tendency  could  be  de- 
pended on,  there  was  sufficient  in  his  family  his- 
tory to  reassure  them.  But  the  situation  was 
peculiar.  Charles  Spooner  had  been  an  East 
India  merchant  and  had  lived  in  China  and 
traveled  much.  Bourne  Spooner  was  also  a 
trained  and  experienced  merchant,  and  man  of 
affairs,  who  had  seen  a  good  deal  of  other  parts 
of  the  world.  The  company's  raw  material 
came  from  Russia,  the  East  Indies,  and  other 
remote  countries,  and  the  selling  of  the  product 
was  not  the  least  important  part  of  the  treasurer's 
duty.  Certainly  a  merchant  was  needed.  Mr. 
Holmes  had  achieved  his  triumphs  and  gained 
his  experience  almost  entirely  in  his  native  town, 
and  there  were  grave  doubts  whether  his  train- 
ing was  broad  enough  for  the  requirements  of 
the  business.  Then  there  was  a  feeling  that  no 
one  but  a  Spooner  could  manage  the  company, 
and  so  some  of  the  stockholders  sold  their  stock. 


[136] 

It  is  fair  to  say  that  the  same  thing  happened 
when  Charles  Spooner  succeeded  his  father. 

Mr.  Holmes  was  scarcely  in  office  before  he 
began  to  ask  for  more  machinery,  and  the  di- 
rectors honored  his  call,  although  the  policy  of 
increasing  the  plant  was  a  debatable  one  at  that 
time.  Since  1878  the  cordage  manufacturers 
had  been  united  in  a  pool,  by  the  rules  of  which  a 
certain  percentage  of  the  total  business  was  al- 
lotted to  each  company.  If  a  company  made 
more  than  its  allotment,  it  paid  a  profit  on  the 
excess  into  the  pool,  which  was  distributed 
among  those  who  made  less  than  their  allotted 
share.  Some  manufacturers  found  it  profitable 
to  close  their  factories  and  draw  their  profits 
from  the  pool.  There  was  no  risk  in  pursuing 
that  course;  but  such  was  not  the  policy  ad- 
vocated by  Mr.  Holmes  and  pursued  by  the 
directors  of  the  Plymouth  Cordage  Company. 
They  took  every  means  to  extend  the  company's 
business,  even  at  the  expense  of  less  profit  in 
the  present;  and  at  every  renewal  of  the  pool, 
Plymouth  got  a  larger  percentage,  and  when 
the  system  was  finally  abandoned,  had  largely 
increased  its  market  and  reputation. 

The    formation    and    management    of    these 


[137] 

pools,  and  the  awarding  of  the  percentages  led 
to  much  friction ;  and  such  votes  as  this  appear 
on  the  directors'  records:  "In  the  opinion  of 
the  directors  the  experience  of  the  last  nine 
months  proves  that  the  present  combination 
works  great  injustice  to  this  company  and  we 
therefore  demand  that  our  percentage  should 
be  increased";  but  here  Mr.  Holmes'  tact  and 
straightforward  diplomacy  was  conspicuous  in 
smoothing  out  difficulties  and  eliminating  fric- 
tion, and  his  good-natured  tenacity  won  him 
many  victories.  As  one  of  his  competitors  said, 
"Holmes  is  always  putting  out  his  foot  for  busi- 
ness —  and  once  he  gets  it  in  he  never  with- 
draws." 

January  3,  1885,  the  company  met  with  a 
disastrous  fire.  On  the  fifth  the  directors  au- 
thorized the  treasurer  to  roof  in  the  building, 
which  had  been  used  as  a  machine  shop  before 
the  fire,  and  to  use  any  of  the  other  buildings  he 
saw  fit  for  that  purpose.  They  also  authorized 
him  to  have  one  hundred  spinners  made  outside. 
On  February  19,  1885,  Mr.  E.  D.  Leavitt  and 
Mr.  Stephen  Greene,  engineers,  were  requested 
to  report  on  the  best  disposition  of  the  buildings, 
boilers,  and  engines,  taking  into  consideration 


[188] 

all  questions  bearing  on  future  growth  and 
economical  working;  and  the  treasurer  (Mr. 
Holmes)  was  requested  to  estimate  and  report 
on  the  machinery.  On  March  19,  1885,  both 
reports  were  adopted,  and  the  beginning  of  the 
new  Plymouth  Cordage  Company  was  made. 
The  remaining  old  mills,  excepting  only  the  rope- 
walk,  were  so  inferior  to  the  new,  that  they  also 
were  torn  down  and  rebuilt;  so  that  the  plant, 
as  it  exists  to-day,  has  grown  up  and  developed 
under  the  guidance  and  administration  of  Mr. 
Holmes. 

The  rebuilding  and  extension  of  the  plant  at 
Plymouth  are  not  the  only  triumphs  of  his  ad- 
ministration in  this  direction,  since  in  1905  was 
begun  the  very  complete  and  fine  plant  at  Wel- 
land,  Ontario,  which  has  successfully  extended 
the  activity  and  traditions  of  Plymouth  to 
Canada. 

When  Mr.  Holmes  entered  the  employment 
of  the  company  in  1859,  the  directors  were 
Bourne  Spooner,  John  Russell,  John  A.  Dodd, 
Levi  H.  Marsh,  and  Benjamin  S.  Rotch.  Caleb 
W.  Loring  was  clerk.  The  annual  output  of  the 
company  was  3,750,000  pounds,  and  there  were 
one  hundred  and  eighteen  hands  employed  on 


[139] 

an  average ;  the  pay  roll,  including  all  salaries, 
amounted  to  $39,450,  and  the  business  did  not 
extend  west  of  Buffalo. 

When  he  became  treasurer  in  1882,  the  direc- 
tors were  John  A.  Dodd,  president,  Caleb  W. 
Loring,  George  G.  Crocker,  Schuyler  S.  Bart- 
lett,  and  L.  A.  Plummer.  The  output  amounted 
to  12,000,000  pounds  a  year.  There  were  three 
hundred  and  three  hands  employed;  the  pay 
roll  amounted  to  $131,473.66,  and  the  business 
extended  generally  west  to  the  Mississippi. 

Now  the  directors  are  Augustus  P.  Loring, 
president,  George  G.  Crocker,  Schuyler  S.  Bart- 
lett,  William  L.  Putnam,  and  B.  Preston  Clark. 
The  yearly  business  is  90,700,000  pounds. 
There  are  1,625  hands  employed,  the  pay  roll  is 
$764,500,  and  the  business  covers  all  parts  of 
North  America,  extends  as  far  east  as  Turkey, 
and  covers  many  parts  of  South  America  and 
Africa. 

To  produce  the  present  output,  in  the  way  it 
was  produced  in  1859,  would  require  2,850 
hands,  or  in  the  way  it  was  produced  in  1882, 
would  require  2,270  hands. 

Although  the  company  was  temporarily  dis- 
abled by  the  fire,  some  of  the  directors,  and  es- 


[140] 

pecially  Mr.  Dodd,  were  averse  to  a  renewal  of 
the  pool,  but  Mr.  Holmes  felt  strongly  that  the 
company  would  benefit  by  its  renewal.  On 
May  8,  the  president  (Mr.  Dodd)  and  the 
treasurer  (Mr.  Holmes)  were  authorized  to 
attend  a  meeting  in  New  York  and  assent  to  a 
new  pool.  In  spite  of  the  difficulties  of  the  situ- 
ation, it  being  obvious  that  the  Plymouth  Com- 
pany was  out  of  the  field  as  a  producer,  at  least 
for  a  considerable  time,  and  Mr.  Dodd  opposing, 
yet  Mr.  Holmes,  by  rare  tact  and  superior  di- 
plomacy, succeeded  in  having  the  pool  renewed, 
which  enabled  the  company  to  draw  a  profit,  and 
pay  a  dividend  during  the  period  of  rebuilding, 
which  would  otherwise  have  been  a  dry  season. 
In  July  the  directors  voted  that  the  company 
should  not  remain  in  the  pool  unless  the  stock 
on  hand  of  all  the  companies  on  July  1  was 
turned  in.  Such  an  ultimatum  communicated 
to  the  other  members  of  the  pool  would  have 
ended,  in  all  probability,  what  had  been  so 
laboriously  brought  together.  A  few  days  later 
they  reconsidered  and  voted  that  it  was  inex- 
pedient to  remain  in  the  pool,  but  gave  the 
treasurer  full  powers  to  deal  with  the  situation 
—  which  he  did  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  con- 


ENTRANCE  TO  GROUNDS 
OFFICE  OF  PLYMOUTH  CORDAGE  CO. 


[141] 

cerned,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  goods  on 
hand  were  turned  in. 

In  1887  the  pool  broke  up  and  a  combination 
of  all  the  large  cordage  companies  in  the  United 
States  was  planned  in  New  York;  and  in  1889, 
a  combination  of  about  seventy  per  cent  of  the 
spindles  in  the  country  was  formed,  into  which 
every  means  was  resorted  to  in  order  to  force 
the  Plymouth  Company  to  join.  Ruinous  com- 
petition was  threatened  and  tried,  and  in  1892, 
a  large  interest  in  the  Plymouth  stock  was  ac- 
quired. Officers  and  employees  alike  were 
assailed  with  bribes  and  threats,  and  a  few  of 
the  employees  left  Plymouth  and  took  employ- 
ment with  the  Trust;  but  Mr.  Holmes,  who 
was  now  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant men  in  the  industry,  declined  every  induce- 
ment (though  after  he  had  declined  a  large 
salary  and  bonus,  he  was  asked  to  name  his  own 
figure),  and  remained  steadfast  in  his  allegiance 
to  the  company  and  the  men.  He  knew  that  he 
could  get  suddenly  rich  if  he  sold  himself  and 
the  company  to  the  New  Yorkers,  but  he  did 
not  care  for  wealth  at  that  price.  So  he  stood 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the  directors  and 
carried  through  the  fight  to  the  end  —  which 


[142] 

was  victory.  In  spite  of  his  uncomplying  posi- 
tion he  retained  not  only  the  good  opinion,  but 
also  the  friendship  of  the  men  he  fought,  and 
came  to  be  recognized  as  the  ablest  cordage 
manufacturer  of  the  country. 

From  the  day  of  its  organization  to  this  day, 
it  has  been  the  policy  and  pride  of  the  Plymouth 
Cordage  Company  to  make  the  best  rope  that 
can  be  made,  and  never  to  adulterate  or  debase 
its  product.  This  tradition  has  been  carried 
forward  and  fostered  by  Mr.  Holmes  with  the 
great  power  which  he  possesses  to  accomplish 
whatever  he  undertakes.  He  is  too  honest  to 
make  a  dishonest  rope.  Thus  Plymouth  rope 
has  acquired  a  well  merited  reputation  in  the 
trade,  and  being  pretty  nearly  a  standard,  finds 
a  ready  and  steady  sale  at  all  times. 

It  was  the  lack  of  the  Plymouth  Company  and 
its  prestige  and  methods  that  led  as  much  as 
anything  else  to  the  downfall  of  the  combina- 
tion in  1893. 

Having  failed  in  controlling  the  manufacture 
and  sale  of  the  finished  product,  the  New  York 
parties  got  up  a  combination  to  control  the  pur- 
chase of  the  raw  material  acting  through  the 
National  Company  as  agent,  and  Mr.  Holmes, 


[143] 

representing  his  own  company,  became  one  of 
the  committee  to  purchase  fiber.  It  was  not 
long  before  Plymouth  experienced  difficulty  in 
getting  its  raw  material.  In  October,  1890, 
matters  came  to  a  head,  and  Mr.  Holmes,  with 
the  authority  of  the  directors,  went  into  the  open 
market  to  purchase  fiber.  There  was  a  large  lot 
of  manila  in  New  York  which  belonged  to  the 
Plymouth  Company,  but  which  was  still  in  the 
hands  of  the  National  Company.  This  was 
sorely  needed  at  Plymouth  to  keep  the  mills 
running;  but  the  only  way  to  get  it  seemed  to 
be  by  a  replevin  suit.  Arrangements  were  made 
with  a  Boston  banking  firm  to  have  their  New 
York  correspondents  go  as  sureties  on  the  re- 
plevin bond,  and  Mr.  Holmes  went  to  New 
York  to  get  the  hemp.  On  arrival  he  found  that 
the  hemp  had  been  put  on  a  lighter  in  the  harbor. 
It  appeared  that  the  New  York  member  of  the 
Boston  banking  firm  had  incautiously  asked 
the  National  people  if  they  had  any  objection  to 
his  going  on  the  bond,  and  the  hint  was  sufficient, 
the  lighter  and  the  hemp  disappeared. 

Mr.  Holmes  and  his  counsel,  Mr.  Cadwal- 
lader,  took  the  bull  by  the  horns,  and  at  once 
called  on  the  National  people.  They  repre- 


[144] 

sented  the  case  so  strongly,  that  the  lighter  was 
forthcoming.  This  episode  did  not  end  here. 
The  Boston  bankers  were  a  good  deal  chagrined 
by  the  action  of  their  New  York  correspondent, 
and  assured  Mr.  Holmes  that  they  were  at  his 
service,  if  there  was  ever  a  time  when  they  could 
do  anything  for  him,  to  repair  their  error.  In 
1893  came  the  panic,  and  in  the  week  when  it 
was  at  its  height,  when  money  was  eighteen  per 
cent,  and  could  not  be  got  even  at  that  rate,  the 
Plymouth  Cordage  Company  had  notes  falling 
due  which  must  be  paid,  to  the  amount  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars.  There  was 
due  to  the  company  one  million  four  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  not  one  cent  of  which  could 
then  be  collected,  although  in  the  end  all  was 
paid.  In  this  pinch  Mr.  Holmes  went  to  the 
bankers,  who  remembered  their  promise  with- 
out being  reminded,  and  sold  sixty-day  bills  to 
the  amount  of  fifteen  thousand  pounds  to  the 
company,  which  was  equivalent  to  procuring  a 
foreign  loan  at  six  per  cent.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  high  personal  regard  which  they  had 
for  Mr.  Holmes  was  an  important  factor  in  the 
result.  Some  of  the  directors  pledged  their 
credit,  and  with  hard  work  on  the  part  of  the 


[145] 

officers,  the  company  came  through  the  storm 
with  flying  colors.  Undoubtedly  too  large 
credits  had  been  given  to  certain  parties,  but  the 
lesson  was  a  sharp  one,  and  none  of  the  officials 
concerned  are  likely  to  repeat  the  mistake. 

Mr.  Holmes  was  among  the  first  manufact- 
urers to  realize  the  coming  importance  of  the 
binder  twine  business,  and  he  began  its  manu- 
facture in  the  first  year  of  his  treasurership.  This 
twine,  which  is  much  like  the  ordinary  rope 
yarn,  is  used  in  the  reaping  machines  to  bind  the 
sheaves  automatically.  When  the  grain  is 
thrashed  the  band  is  cut  and  thrown  aside,  never 
to  be  used  again.  The  result  is  an  enormous 
annual  consumption  of  twine,  our  share  last 
year  amounting  to  fifty-eight  million  pounds. 
In  1891  were  made  the  first  large  contracts  with 
harvesting  machine  men  for  handling  the  com- 
pany's output  in  connection  with  the  machine 
business ;  one  of  these  contracts  was  with  Lind- 
say Brothers  of  Milwaukee,  of  which  Mr.  E.  J. 
Lindsay,  the  managing  partner,  has  become 
one  of  Mr.  Holmes'  warm  personal  friends.  In 
1892  it  was  found  necessary  to  run  the  mills  at 
night  to  meet  the  increasing  demand. 

The  records  of  the  directors  of  the  company 


[146] 

show  that  they  were  not  slow  in  appreciating 
Mr.  Holmes'  great  ability.  On  September  3, 
1895,  they  voted  "That  the  congratulations  of 
the  directors  be  offered  to  Mr.  Holmes  on  the 
surprising  success  of  his  management  of  the 
company's  business  during  the  past  year." 
August  16,  1898,  they  voted  "That  in  consider- 
ation of  the  severe  labor  and  responsibility  of  his 
services  during  the  past  year,  and  in  recognition 
of  the  very  exceptional  ability  he  has  displayed, 
an  addition  of  five  thousand  dollars  be  made  to 
the  salary  of  the  treasurer."  Nobody  could  call 
this  an  empty  compliment,  and  similar  votes 
appear  in  the  records  in  subsequent  years.  In- 
deed, Mr.  Holmes  has  not  only  held  the  appreci- 
ation and  confidence  of  the  directors,  but  he  has 
won  their  affectionate  personal  regard. 

Although  he  was  endowed  with  a  good  con- 
stitution, such  hard  work  and  such  a  strenuous 
life  as  Mr.  Holmes  led  necessarily  affected  his 
health.  In  1899  he  had  a  sharp  attack  of  bron- 
chitis, and  in  November  he  was  given  three 
months'  leave  of  absence  with  full  pay,  and  his 
son,  Mr.  F.  C.  Holmes,  acted  acceptably  as 
assistant  treasurer  during  his  absence.  He 
spent  the  time  in  Bermuda;  but  he  began  too 


BASEBALL  ON  THE  CORDAGE  FIELD 

ENTRANCE  NUMBER  ONE  MILL 

AT  THE  LABOR  DAY  FAIR 


[147] 

late  in  life  to  acquire  the  vacation  habit,  and  he 
has  taken  no  long  vacation  since.  He  prefers  to 
take  his  recreation  by  a  day's  fishing  off  the 
Gurnet  in  his  tidy  thirty-foot  auxiliary,  or  to 
spend  a  week  in  the  woods  fishing  with  his  friend, 
Mr.  Thayer.  Hunting  goes  against  his  gentle 
nature.  For  years  he  enjoyed  an  afternoon's 
drive  behind  a  good  horse,  but  he  is  always  up 
to  time,  and  now  scurries  over  the  road  in  an 
automobile.  He  takes  great  pleasure  in  the 
cultivation  of  fruit  and  flowers,  and  likes  a  good 
field  of  grass  as  well  as  a  handsome  bed  of  pan- 
sies,  and  he  raises  both  with  conspicuous  suc- 
cess. He  is  justly  proud  of  his  one  charming 
little  grandchild. 

The  hard  path  Mr.  Holmes  had  to  travel  in 
his  early  years,  while  he  was  working  his  way  up 
in  the  company,  gave  him  a  clear  understanding 
of  the  laboring  men's  position,  while  his  kindly 
nature  and  broad  mind  enlisted  his  sympathetic 
regard  for  them  and  everything  conducing  to 
their  welfare,  a  regard  which  was,  and  is,  re- 
turned by  them  by  a  strong  spirit  of  personal 
loyalty  and  affection,  which  effectually  prevents 
friction  and  misunderstanding.  There  has  been 
no  general  strike  since  he  has  been  treasurer. 


[148] 

He  has  been  solicitous  that  not  only  the  work- 
men, but  that  also  the  office  force,  should  be 
well  and  conveniently  housed ;  and  besides  more 
than  seventy  tenements  built  during  his  regime 
for  the  mill  hands,  six  handsome  and  modern 
cottages  have  been  built  on  Holmes  Terrace  for 
the  clerical  force.  But  more  than  anything  else 
Mr.  Holmes  has  seen  to  it  that  the  conditions 
under  which  the  men  work,  and  the  wages  and 
hours  of  labor  should  be  as  favorable  as  possi- 
ble. It  has  been  his  pride  that  the  Plymouth 
Cordage  Company  has  always  been  in  advance 
of  legislation  in  shortening  the  hours  of  labor. 
Under  Mr.  Holmes'  recommendation  in  1892, 
the  hours  of  labor  were  reduced  from  sixty  to 
fifty-eight  a  week,  at  the  same  pay,  and  the 
employees  celebrated  the  occasion  by  a  jollifica- 
tion, and  presented  him  with  a  silver  inkstand 
to  commemorate  the  event. 

It  was  about  this  time,  and  when  the  National 
Company  was  endeavoring  to  break  up  the  busi- 
ness at  Plymouth,  that  the  Knights  of  Labor 
were  active  in  organizing  the  hands  there.  They 
agitated  an  advance  in  wages,  and  for  the  same 
pay  and  conditions  that  the  cordage  workers 
had  in  New  York.  There  was  talk  of  a  strike, 


[149] 

and  a  committee  of  the  Knights  employed  in  the 
mill  waited  upon  Mr.  Holmes.  He  received 
them  well,  and  carefully  pointed  out  to  them  the 
differences  in  their  favor  in  the  conditions  at 
Plymouth  over  those  which  prevailed  in  New 
York.  He  called  to  the  attention  of  some  of  the 
members  of  the  committee,  that  they  them- 
selves having  at  one  time  sought  work  elsewhere, 
had  never  been  easy  until  they  got  back  to  their 
old  employment.  The  committee  reported  what 
he  had  said,  and  the  agitation  came  to  an  end. 

He  takes  the  greatest  interest  in  their  concerts 
and  ball  games,  and  they  know  it.  They  would 
miss  almost  anything  less  than  his  familiar  face 
in  the  corner  window  of  the  office  when  they 
play  ball.  Every  step  in  the  social  betterment 
work  for  which  the  company  has  acquired  such 
an  enviable  reputation  has  been  carried  out 
under  his  immediate  direction.  In  fact,  the  first 
step  in  this  direction  was  taken  by  Mrs.  Holmes, 
with  his  consent,  when  she  established,  taught, 
and  managed  a  sloyd  school  before  the  com- 
pany had  a  library,  schools,  or  baths,  and  other 
facilities  for  the  operatives  to  get  something  out 
of  life  besides  hard  work. 

In  December,  1899,  the  company  appropri- 


[150] 

ated  five  hundred  dollars  to  be  distributed  as 
premiums  for  the  best  gardens,  well  kept  places, 
and  fruits  and  vegetables  during  the  next  sum- 
mer, and  Mr.  Holmes  was  one  of  the  largest  ex- 
hibitors at  the  first  Labor  Day  show  held  in  a 
room  about  fourteen  by  eighteen  feet.  Nothing 
gives  him  greater  pleasure  than  the  present 
show,  that  fills  two  enormous  tents  and  draws  a 
crowd  of  eight  or  ten  thousand  visitors. 

Mr.  Holmes  has  always  shown  a  deep  and 
helpful  affection  for  his  family,  and  is  never 
happier  than  when  he  can  gather  them  around 
him  in  the  cottages,  which  he  has  built  for  their 
use  at  the  edge  of  the  harbor. 

At  sixty-five,  he  is  well,  strong,  still  young 
and  active.  He  has  risen  and  achieved  success 
without  pulling  others  down.  He  has  won  ad- 
miration without  envy.  He  has  love  in  full 
measure,  pressed  down  and  overflowing. 


THE    END 


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LIBRARY,  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  DAVIS 

Book  Slip-Series  458 


N9  840397 

HD9999 

Plymouth  cordage  company,  C76 
Plymouth,  Mass.  H6 

Golden  anniversary 
celebration. 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


